This article revisits long-standing debates about the appropriate relationship between international trade law and policy, and fair labour standards. Section 1 provides a brief historical context for both the institutional dimensions of this interface and the evolving normative rationales for conditioning trade policy on adherence to core labour standards. Section 2 reviews evidence from various sources of unfair labour practices and broader human rights abuses imposed on the Uyghur minority population in China. Section 3 reviews the responses to date of supranational institutions and states to this evidence, as well as how China has responded to allegations of Uyghur mistreatment. Section 4 focuses on unilateral trade sanctions imposed on products imported from China or via third countries that have been produced by forced labour in China. Section 5 concludes by assessing the likely efficacy of private and public measures to address the issue of Uyghur forced labour in China.