CATL IPO Violates President Trump’s America First Investment Policy and Risks U.S. National Security
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today called on JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to immediately withdraw from underwriting the $7.7 billion Hong Kong IPO of Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL), a Chinese electric battery manufacturer with alarming ties to the Chinese Community Party (CCP) and which was recently added to the Pentagon’s 1260H list of Chinese military companies.
The IPO, widely seen as the first major test of President Trump’s America First Investment Policy (AFIP), directly undermines the President’s February directive to block U.S. investment in companies linked to the Chinese military, human rights abuses, and authoritarian surveillance state. CPA has long advocated for prohibiting China from exploiting U.S. capital markets, and is strongly supportive of President Trump’s AFIP.
“Wall Street should not be in the business of helping China’s military modernization,” said Zach Mottl, Chairman of CPA. “President Trump’s America First Investment Policy is clear: no U.S. dollar should support companies tied to the Chinese military, slave labor, or genocide. JPMorgan and Bank of America must immediately withdraw from the CATL IPO. Anything less would be a betrayal of American investors, American values, and American national security.”
CATL has been linked to human rights abuses in Xinjiang and plays a central role in China’s battery supply chain—a critical sector for dual-use civilian and military applications. The company’s IPO comes despite a directive from the President stating that all U.S. investment in Chinese military-linked firms should be blocked.
“This is not a gray area. CATL is on the Pentagon’s blacklist, it is linked to forced labor, and now some of the biggest names on Wall Street want to help it raise billions of dollars with the backing of American capital,” said Jon Toomey, President of CPA. “This is exactly the kind of dangerous, self-defeating behavior that AFIP was designed to stop. JPMorgan and Bank of America need to walk away now.”
CPA applauds House Select Committee on the CCP Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) for demanding accountability from the banks involved. In a letter to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Chairman Moolenaar wrote that “given CATL’s direct links to China’s military modernization, its complicity in the ongoing genocide in Xinjiang, and the grave risks it poses to U.S. national and economic security, the firms must withdraw from the IPO.” In an interview today with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business, Chairman Moolenaar said CATL is strongly linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army and forced labor, and said that the United States should not be funding China’s military rise.
As CPA recently documented, the CATL IPO is more than a financial transaction—it’s a national security issue, a human rights issue, and a test of whether America’s leading financial institutions will align with U.S. policy or pursue profits at the expense of the nation’s interests.
CPA urges all firms involved in underwriting or investing in CATL to immediately reconsider their participation and comply fully with the intent and letter of the AFIP
Last year, CPA released a list of legislation it endorses to restrict U.S. capital flows to China. CPA also supports bills introduced by Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) to curb Wall Street’s investments in China, as well as a bipartisan legislative package introduced by Congresswoman Victoria Spartz (R-IN-05) and Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA-32).
Last year, CPA released a new “case study” report to Congress that highlights the growing influence of the CCP over U.S. financial firms. The report titled “Inside the Wire: Wall Street’s Joint Ventures with the Chinese Communist Party” reveals how U.S. financial giants — including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs — have formed joint ventures (JVs) with state banks controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), giving Beijing unprecedented influence over major U.S. financial firms and Wall Street executives. These partnerships provide the CCP with dangerous leverage that poses a serious risk to U.S. economic and national security.
This report follows CPA’s two prior reports on Vanguard and FTSE Russell, as well as BlackRock and MSCI, that detail how Wall Street asset managers and index providers funnel U.S. investor capital into companies linked to CCP firms that have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for human rights abuses and helping advance the lethality of the PLA.
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