Americans may struggle to agree on much during an election year, but surely, we can all agree that U.S. taxpayer dollars should not be going to companies controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They should not be going to companies that exploit and profit from forced labor, and they absolutely should not be used to deepen our dependence on supply chains controlled by a foreign adversary that seeks to defeat us on the world stage.
This week, I am holding an event in Manteno, Illinois, because that is exactly what is happening with Gotion. Gotion, a Chinese electric battery factory, has set up shop in Illinois and Michigan and has brought the CCP along with it. We know senior Gotion executives have attended CCP meetings. We know the company exploits the CCP’s ongoing human rights abuses against the Uyghurs by using modern-day forced labor from Xinjiang to make its products. And we know that Gotion is able to exploit subsidies to provide batteries at below-market rates, undercutting American companies and competitors that play by the rules.
I actively support and advocate for more jobs, economic opportunities and investments in Illinois; unfortunately, any jobs created by the proposed Gotion plants in Manteno, Illinois, or Green Charter Township, Michigan, will be dependent on supply chains dominated by China, leaving those communities dependent on the whims of the CCP. It is hard to see how American industry, including the electric vehicle industry, can ever challenge its Chinese competitors on the world stage when the CCP can arbitrarily violate global rules and standards and determine supply and material prices. The partnership is designed to subjugate American industry, and the model should be familiar to anyone who has studied Beijing’s tactics when it has come to solar technology, pharmaceuticals or other sectors it defines as “strategic emerging industries.”
You see, China’s leaders do not believe in cooperation or fair competition, but in strategic domination, and the CCP has sought to gain a stranglehold on key supply chains using its typical combination of illegal subsidies, hardball tactics such as export bans and forced labor. The CCP views these monopolies as strategic economic weapons that allow it to force American manufacturers into joint ventures, deepen reliance on the CCP and provide a platform for Chinese firms to steal intellectual property or even undertake hostile takeovers of their “partners.” Gotion does all of this because it is beholden to the CCP. China’s 2017 national security law requires every Chinese company to advance the interests of the Chinese state and to follow the party’s and President Xi Jinping’s directives upon demand.
Thanks to Gov. JB Pritzker, this relationship with Gotion is a danger purchased by Illinois taxpayers who are now helping fund our own dependency on an adversary that has made clear its hostile intentions toward our nation. China already produces two-thirds of the world’s electric batteries. We should be trying to bring that percentage down, not increasing it. Unless we break Beijing’s domination of the electric vehicle industry, a transition to an EV future merely means increasing our country’s dependence on China and the desires of the CCP. Instead, we should be focused on ways to support American interests and innovation and create resilient infrastructure to support growth of American jobs.
Thankfully, there is a way to stop this. The NO GOTION Act, which I was proud to introduce along with my colleague, Michigan U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, would prohibit U.S. taxpayer credits from going to companies owned or controlled by foreign adversaries such as the CCP. It would ensure that if taxpayer funds are to be spent at all, they go to lessening our dependence on supply chains controlled by the CCP and helping American companies create reliable jobs and opportunities in our communities.
As communities in Illinois say “no” to Gotion, Congress should do the same and pass our legislation.
U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood represents the 16th District in northern and north-central Illinois.
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