BEIJING >> China said Tuesday that it would investigate whether PVH, the American retailer that owns the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, has taken “discriminatory measures” against products from Xinjiang in China’s far west.

The announcement, by China’s Ministry of Commerce, is a new escalation of China’s effort to fight bans or consumer boycotts of goods from Xinjiang.

Many Western governments have begun restricting or banning products from Xinjiang following mass arrests and evidence of forced labor among the region’s predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, particularly the Uyghurs. Researchers have cited evidence that cotton production in Xinjiang has been tainted by coercion.

Beijing is sending a message to multinational corporations that if they comply with consumer boycotts or government bans on products from Xinjiang, they may face retaliation in China.

China’s action underlines how big companies increasingly find themselves sandwiched between pressures from the Chinese government, which defends its policies in Xinjiang, and Western countries and human rights advocacy groups.

PVH, which is based in New York, said in a statement that it was in communication with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. “PVH maintains strict compliance with all relevant laws and regulations in all countries and regions in which we operate,” the company said.

On Friday, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group with lawmakers from at least 22 countries and the European Union, issued a statement calling for Volkswagen to withdraw from Xinjiang. Volkswagen, Germany’s largest automaker, has a 190-employee joint venture in Xinjiang with a carmaker owned by the Shanghai municipal governments. Chinese state-owned enterprises like Volkswagen’s partner follow Beijing’s lead in opposing any withdrawal from Xinjiang.

The alliance issued its statement after Adrian Zenz, the director in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, issued a report that cited a leaked audit that Volkswagen had commissioned. His report said the automaker had failed to properly investigate accusations of complicity in Xinjiang’s coercive policies toward Uyghurs. Volkswagen has said that the audit shows it behaved appropriately.

Volkswagen said Monday that it was not building cars in Xinjiang, where workers prepare cars for delivery to dealerships.

China is not only a large consumer market but also the world’s largest manufacturer. Many companies, particularly apparel retailers, depend heavily on factories in China and could be vulnerable if Beijing decided to impose sanctions on their subsidiaries or suppliers.

In the United States, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act bans the import of any goods from Xinjiang unless the importer can prove to U.S. customs officials that the products were made without forced labor. The law took effect in June 2022.

Proving that has become practically impossible, as China has banned independent investigations of labor practices in Xinjiang. Advocacy groups say that forced labor is widely used in Xinjiang’s vast cotton fields, which supply textile factories all over China. Xinjiang produces more than 90% of all the cotton grown in China.

China has quietly passed its own laws that ban compliance with laws, sanctions or boycotts in other countries. The Ministry of Commerce has authority to deem commercial decisions as a threat to China’s national security.