(LibertySons.org) – Republican legislators are calling on President Biden to sanction two major Chinese battery manufacturers. Both companies have deals with US companies and play a big part in plans to move the country to electric vehicles (EVs). However, they’re also linked to slave labor in the communist state’s network of work camps.
Chinese Companies Have Labor Camp Links
A key part of President Biden’s green agenda is forcing Americans to switch from gasoline and diesel engines to EVs. One of the major problems with this plan is that it would require vast numbers of batteries — far more than the US industry can produce. To plug the gap, car makers have signed deals with manufacturers in China, which controls much of the mineral supply needed to make rechargeable batteries.
For example, Ford has signed a licensing deal with CATL, which is building a factory in Michigan to manufacture batteries for the auto company. Meanwhile, Gotion Inc, a US subsidiary of Chinese company Gotion High-Tech, is raking in state and federal subsidies as it builds two battery plants for Volkswagen in Michigan and Illinois.
Now, a group of five GOP lawmakers are calling for action that could shut down those new battery factories. The group –- which includes House committee chairmen Mark Green (R-TN) and John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) –- has written to the Department of Homeland Security asking the Biden administration to add both companies to the list of entities flagged under the 2020 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).
This law was passed to prevent US companies from funding Chinese oppression of the Uyghur minority, which the State Department says are the target of genocide by the communist regime. If the companies are flagged, they’ll effectively be banned from exporting goods to the US.
According to the legislators, the supply chains of CATL and Gotion are “deeply compromised” by links to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which runs a network of forced labor camps where thousands of detained Uyghurs are forced to work for Chinese exporters.
Flagging them would make it very difficult for the companies to continue with their battery factory projects –- and, unless US companies can take up the slack, that’s likely to seriously restrict a large-scale move to EVs.
The Biden administration’s push for green policies is colliding with the Trump administration’s hard line on Chinese human rights abuses. Now the question is whether the DHS will act on the lawmakers’ letters or not. So far, the department hasn’t revealed anything. A spokesperson said the DHS responds directly to letters from Congress, meaning we can’t expect a public statement anytime soon.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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