The House Select Committee on the CCP is now chaired by Congressman John Moolenaar (R-MI-2). He replaced outgoing Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI). Moolenaar sent two separate letters about the Committee’s findings on CATL and Gotion, including aerial footage of factory whereabouts and organizational charts, to Robert Silvers, Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans at DHS. Both letters were signed by Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-7), Rep. Darin Lahood (R-IL-16), Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL-26) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
Full Gotion letter and CATL letter by Moolenaar, et. al.
Judging by the corporate organizational charts in the letters, CATL sources lithium carbonate and other raw materials from three companies majority owned by another company called Ganfeng Lithium. That company is 65% owned by Genfeng Zhonghai Mining, which is 35% owned by another company called Nonghua Intelligent Agriculture. And from there you get the small connection to XPCC, which seems to suggest in the chart a roughly 6% stake in that company that ultimately feeds the CATL raw materials chain.
For Gotion, their chart shows that they source artificial graphite anodes from a company called BTR. BTR gets lithium ion, a key material for making EV batteries, from a company called Xinjiang Tianhongji New Lithium Battery Co. That company supposedly has partnerships with XPCC.
The letter states that Tianhongi is set up in the Shihezi Economic and Technological Development Zone in Xinjiang, an area administered by the XPCC “to foster high-tech enterprise growth” and is located in the same region as a Uyghur detention center controlled by the XPCC’s 152nd Regiment.
In both of the 9-page letters, Homeland was requested to put the companies on the forced labor list. If they chose not to, Homeland was asked for a briefing on that decision.
This could become a hot issue in the months ahead, with ramifications for the EV supply chain.
On May 14, the Biden administration imposed tariffs on CATL and Gotion batteries, among other companies. However, those two companies are largely keen on making batteries for the U.S. auto market, close to their domestic auto partners. How this shakes out going forward depends on Homeland’s decision. And whether or not the connections laid out by the Select Committee are valid, and deemed worthy of adding CATL and Gotion to the UFLPA Entity list. No timeline has been given for this decision.
China EV Battery Giants’ Supply Chains Full Of ‘Forced Labor’, Says House CCP Committee
China’s EV battery companies CATL and Gotion High Tech source materials from companies banned by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) due to forced labor violations, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said on June 6. They’re now calling for both companies to be added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity list.
CATL, which stands for Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd, is the largest producer of batteries for electric vehicles. Both Ford and Tesla partner with CATL. Gotion High Tech is building a battery plant in Michigan. All of these relationships are in jeopardy if the House Select Committee is successful in getting these companies added to the UFLPA Entity List managed by DHS.
Both EV battery makers source goods from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), which is on the forced labor list. XPCC is a Chinese Communist Party organization that runs prisons and other industrial operations. The XPCC has been accused of providing prison and forced labor to Chinese companies, including subsidiaries of CATL and Gotion, according to a House Select Committee investigation.
What the House Select Committee is Claiming
The following information is pulled directly from their press release:
CATL
GOTION
The House Select Committee on the CCP is now chaired by Congressman John Moolenaar (R-MI-2). He replaced outgoing Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI). Moolenaar sent two separate letters about the Committee’s findings on CATL and Gotion, including aerial footage of factory whereabouts and organizational charts, to Robert Silvers, Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans at DHS. Both letters were signed by Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-7), Rep. Darin Lahood (R-IL-16), Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL-26) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
Full Gotion letter and CATL letter by Moolenaar, et. al.
Judging by the corporate organizational charts in the letters, CATL sources lithium carbonate and other raw materials from three companies majority owned by another company called Ganfeng Lithium. That company is 65% owned by Genfeng Zhonghai Mining, which is 35% owned by another company called Nonghua Intelligent Agriculture. And from there you get the small connection to XPCC, which seems to suggest in the chart a roughly 6% stake in that company that ultimately feeds the CATL raw materials chain.
For Gotion, their chart shows that they source artificial graphite anodes from a company called BTR. BTR gets lithium ion, a key material for making EV batteries, from a company called Xinjiang Tianhongji New Lithium Battery Co. That company supposedly has partnerships with XPCC.
The letter states that Tianhongi is set up in the Shihezi Economic and Technological Development Zone in Xinjiang, an area administered by the XPCC “to foster high-tech enterprise growth” and is located in the same region as a Uyghur detention center controlled by the XPCC’s 152nd Regiment.
In both of the 9-page letters, Homeland was requested to put the companies on the forced labor list. If they chose not to, Homeland was asked for a briefing on that decision.
This could become a hot issue in the months ahead, with ramifications for the EV supply chain.
On May 14, the Biden administration imposed tariffs on CATL and Gotion batteries, among other companies. However, those two companies are largely keen on making batteries for the U.S. auto market, close to their domestic auto partners. How this shakes out going forward depends on Homeland’s decision. And whether or not the connections laid out by the Select Committee are valid, and deemed worthy of adding CATL and Gotion to the UFLPA Entity list. No timeline has been given for this decision.
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