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Gotion under fire

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Illinois

* Wall St. Journal…

Leading Chinese battery companies with ties to Ford Motor and Volkswagen should be banned from shipping goods to the U.S., a group of Republican lawmakers said, alleging their supply chains use forced labor.

Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s largest maker of batteries for electric cars and a partner to Ford, and Gotion High-Tech, a battery company partially owned by Volkswagen, should be added immediately to an import ban list, the lawmakers said in two letters sent to the Biden administration, which are scheduled to be released publicly on Thursday.

The lawmakers called for Contemporary Amperex, also known as CATL, and Gotion to be added to what is known as the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The letters sent to Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Robert Silvers came from Rep. John Moolenaar, head of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party; Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee; Sen. Marco Rubio; and others.

The letters from Sen. Rubio, US Rep. Darin LaHood and others are here and here.

* But this goes beyond Gotion. AF…

CATL is the world’s biggest electric vehicle-battery maker, involved in the production and development of a range of batteries including cylindrical cells and solid state batteries.

The company has been supplying carmakers like BMW, Ford, Stellantis and Elon Musk-led Tesla.

That’s a huge portion of the industry.

* Reuters…

Any allegation that Gotion “uses or is related to forced labor is baseless and absolutely false”, the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters, adding that the selection of partners is based on “strict review mechanisms and evaluation criteria”. […]

CATL said in a statement that the allegations against it were “groundless and completely false”, and that it was in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Business relations with some suppliers which were cited, it said, “ceased long ago”.

* Pritzker spokesperson Alex Gough…

We fully trust the federal government’s review of the company and as a result, an industry leader with numerous breakthroughs in battery technology now calls our state home. We are proud to cement our status as a leader in the EV industry by bringing $2 billion in investment and 2,600 jobs to Illinois.

* Jeanne Ives is jumping in, appearing on WLS Radio to attack Gotion and releasing statements like this…

No Illinois taxpayer should be forced to support a deal with a company using slave labor and is run by a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

Where are the Democrats demanding that the $537 million deal be canceled and the $125 million Pritzker already gave them be given back?

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 11:16 am

Comments

I look forward to Ives’ attack on southern states that have convict leasing arrangements.

Comment by Socially DIstant watcher Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 11:38 am
When if Jeanne thinks they are being treated bad then it must be a crisis. She never seemed to have that same care that Illinois workers were being treated unfairly.

Comment by Neef Jr. Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 11:38 am
Republicans aka the anti-union child labor people suddenly care about “forced labor?” Oh, please. (h/t Rich).

Comment by Grandson of Man Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 11:40 am
This is huge news. Republicans come out against forced labor. Never thought I’d see the day.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 11:41 am
This reads more like republicans trying to get a 2-for-1 in killing off EVs.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 11:42 am
Jeanne Ives is still around? Who knew?

Comment by Lincoln Lad Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 11:50 am
“This reads more like republicans trying to get a 2-for-1 in killing off EVs.”

What’s the second part?
Delaying EV adoption is all this is about. I’ve been on earth far too long to start believing Republicans care about worker exploitation, in China or anywhere else.
We don’t have to play along just because someone like Jeanne Ives wants to talk to us like we’re all as gullible as her voters.

Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 12:06 pm
It also seems that republicans are against any form of economic development especially in the south part of the state

Comment by southern illinois Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 12:15 pm
No to gotion

Comment by Macon Bakin Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 12:31 pm
A win for Illinos and JB is automatically to be resisted by these fools.

Comment by walker Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 12:31 pm
If she’s so concerned about Chinese goods, then Jennie Eeyves should also be talking about closing Wallie World.

Comment by Jerry Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 12:32 pm
By the way Wall Street journal and the whole Murdoch empire is compromised by China https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/04/01/murdoch-borrows-us100m-state-owned-bank-of-china/

Comment by Macon Bakin Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 12:57 pm
Since when did “lock ‘em up, make ‘em work on the chain-gang” Republicans become so concerned with forced ? Don’t the advocate that approach from petty criminals and convicts in the U.S.?

Seem almost hypocritical to their Nationalist platform.

Comment by H-W Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 1:10 pm
Sorry for the typos.

Comment by H-W Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 1:11 pm
==Don’t the advocate that approach from petty criminals and convicts in the U.S.? ==

Yes, when it benefits US companies and oligarchs. This benefits rich people in another country, they don’t love that.

Comment by supplied_demand Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 1:17 pm
If it’s true then yeah, throw whatever sanctions we can at China to punish them for their genocidal treatment of Uighyurs. But it doesn’t really sound like it’s true, and Lord knows Republicans lie all the time, hate China, and hate green tech, so I’m pretty skeptical.

Comment by Perrid Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 1:28 pm
Pat Quinn-”No politician in Illinois is as irrelevant as me.”

Jeanne Ives-”Hold my beer.”

Comment by Flyin'Elvis'-Utah Chapter Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 1:31 pm
== Delaying EV adoption is all this is about. ==

And what a way to be so visibly on the wrong side of this topic, too. Electric-everything is going full swing. Went to Home Depot yesterday for a couple of topsoil bags, and walking through the mower aisle noticed that in just two years how much the market has switched to electric for small motors. There were 20 push mowers on display, and only 4 of them were gas engines. Sat through a business information consulting graduate class presentation on the lawn & turf industry, and it was noted that all of the players are walking away from gas engines. Honda won’t make gas-powered small engines for the US market after this year, instead turning their resources to bringing their electric products over from Europe.

Just amazing how hard Republicans want to be wrong on electrification.

Comment by Leap Day William Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 1:37 pm
== No Illinois taxpayer should be forced to support a deal with a company using slave labor and is run by a member of the Chinese Communist Party. ==

From the folks that want to go back to tne Jim Crow era & increasingly remove health choices.

Great. Typical.

Comment by sal-says Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 3:23 pm
===From the folks that===

Y’know, it’s possible that they’re right.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 3:28 pm
–it’s possible–

Is it though?

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 3:33 pm
Two propositions, right? The second is by definition true. Every person in China is a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

The first is whether slave labor is used. The evidence presented says no. Unless disproven, penalties are illegal and subject to compensatory actions.

Comment by H-W Monday, Jun 10, 24 @ 4:14 pm