On Wednesday, American customs officials revealed that they will block the import of bicycles manufactured in Taiwan by Giant Bicycles after a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) investigation “that reasonably indicates forced labour use”.
The CBP alleges that it has identified five ‘forced labour indications’ during an investigation of Giant, including debt bondage, where a person is forced to work to pay off a debt.
For investigative journalist Peter Bengtsen, this is not a surprise. “The risk of debt bondage,” he told BikeRadar, “is the rule, not the exception, for migrants employed in Taiwan’s bicycle and other industries.”
Bengtsen has led investigations into the labour conditions of Taiwan’s bicycle, car, electronic and other industries. Between 2022 and 2025, Bengtsen and his team conducted 200 interviews with migrant workers, gathering testimonies that covered debt bondage and other forced labour indicators.
Bengtsen’s work investigating labour conditions in the Taiwanese cycling industry was published in Le Monde diplomatique in June 2024 and February 2025.
His piece from 2024 asked whether major cycling brands were overlooking forced labour risks. Around a dozen of Giant’s migrant employees were interviewed for the story, with Bergtsen reporting that Vietnamese employees said they paid $5,700 to home-country recruiters, while Thai employees said they paid up to $3,200.
Bengtsen reported in his story from earlier this year, ‘The Bicycle industry’s dirty secret’, that one Vietnamese employee had paid $5,500. “I had to pay up front. I borrowed everything from the bank and mortgaged the house,” they said.
“Migrant workers in Taiwan are vulnerable to forced labour due to several factors, of which high recruitment fees and limited freedom to change employers are key,” Bengtsen told BikeRadar.
“For decades, workers hired from abroad have paid exorbitant fees to home-country recruiters and Taiwanese labour brokers for jobs and services. As a result, workers borrow significantly from banks and money lenders, often at excessive interest rates, and thereby risk debt bondage while working in Taiwan to pay off loans.
“Other migrant vulnerabilities include language barriers, lack of knowledge of laws and rights, lack of support measures or knowledge thereof, and lack of organisation and representation. Fear of repatriation for speaking up adds to the vulnerabilities,” he went on.
Following Bengtsen’s second report in Le Monde diplomatique, the publication received a statement from the Taiwanese Bicycle Association (TBA), an industry trade association that represents companies engaged in exporting bicycles, components and accessories.
The TBA said: “Taiwanese companies have strictly abided by the labour regulations in Taiwan, which nonetheless, may in one way or another, differ from the international method and reference for betterment. We would always obey Taiwan’s labour law and try our very best when there’s room for improvement.”
Giant said it will file a petition to seek the revocation of the import ban, and that it is “firmly committed to upholding human rights and labour protections”.
It said it has taken “concrete actions” in the last year, including the implementation of a Zero Recruitment Fee Policy and upgrading employee housing to provide a “safer and more comfortable living environment.”
Many of the world’s biggest bicycle brands have had bikes or components made in Taiwan. The country is the biggest exporter of bikes to Europe, and trade data shows 28 per cent of bikes imported to the US in 2022 came from Taiwan.
The US can ban imports of goods if they are suspected of being made as a result of forced labour. The country has imposed regulations on imports from China’s Xinjiang region, because members of the minority Uyghur community have been detained and forced to work, according to US officials.
The CBP’s statement says Giant has “profited by imposing such abuse… resulting in goods produced below market value and undercutting American businesses by millions of dollars in unjustly earned profits”.
CBP’s statement echoes the logic behind Donald Trump’s tariff trade war earlier this year, which aimed to make it harder for foreign companies to compete in the US. One trade organisation called the tariffs “devastating” for the US bicycle industry.
