How some automakers are inadvertently empowering the Chinese Communist Party

OPINION:

As a longtime China analyst and watchdog, I am gravely concerned that electric vehicle manufacturers appear to be inadvertently selling America’s national security to the Chinese Communist Party.

It was just weeks ago that Ford, Tesla and other automakers struck the ire of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and members of Congress for removing AM radios from their cars. America’s public safety leaders sent letters to these automakers and key decision-makers voicing their concerns over how the removal of AM is likely to disrupt the effectiveness of the National Public Warning system, the federal government’s tried-and-true way of reaching the public in emergencies. They also received scrutiny from taxpayer advocates, who criticized them for taking billions of dollars in government subsidies and incentives yet refusing to resolve their motors’ interference with the AM receivers.

Now, these EV makers are again receiving condemnation for inadvertently endangering America’s national security, but this time, their behavior has geopolitical implications.

Some carmakers are seeking to work with Chinese electric battery makers to complete the production of their vehicles in the United States. Ford, for example, is working on a billion-dollar deal that includes working with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, a Chinese battery manufacturer, to make batteries for its new cars in the United States. Working with companies like CATL might help these automakers cut costs and even qualify for more subsidies through the Inflation Reduction Act. Still, it will do so while ballooning the CCP’s influence and leverage over the U.S. at the same time.

According to a recent Horizon Advisory report, China is using its strategic advantage in rare earth minerals, which are used to produce EV batteries, as leverage against the United States, which the firm warned “both implicates and threatens the entire global system.”

The U.S. has seen China do this time and time again. For instance, when the U.S.-China trade war reached a head in 2019, China wrote in a government report that it would not rule out using its rare earth exports as leverage to get what it wanted.

CATL ascribes to this playbook too. Longtime analysts of U.S.-China geopolitical relations will recall that it delayed building its North American plant that Tesla and Ford depended on due to tensions over the United States’ response to Taiwan.

U.S. law states that automakers can source battery parts and minerals from the People’s Republic until 2024 and 2025, respectively. In the interim, those utilizing CCP-linked sources can continue receiving Inflation Reduction Act subsidies and credits.

FEMA and the FCC are right — automakers like Ford and Tesla jeopardizing the National Public Warning system by removing AM radios from their vehicles is bad for America’s public safety — but working with Chinese battery makers when the CCP is actively attempting to undercut our position globally and performing open acts of belligerence such as flying spy balloons over our sovereign territory is just as wrong. China has reached its dominant geopolitical rare earth mineral position in large part because of the hefty subsidies that the Chinese government has provided them. The last thing the U.S. should be doing is giving them even more government money, even if it occurs indirectly.

Fortunately, a bipartisan coalition has taken strides to end this concern for public safety just as quickly as they responded to the recent AM radio security concern.

Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, has threatened to sue to keep IRA credits out of the hands of automakers who work with Chinese firms, while Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, has introduced the Restricting Electric Vehicle Outlays from Kleptomaniac Enemies (REVOKE) Act of 2023 to block companies from receiving electric vehicle tax credits from corporations connected to foreign entities of concern.

Time will tell if these Democratic and Republican members’ education and legislative pressure campaigns steer automakers in the right direction. In the meantime, consumer advocates can help by expressing their disapproval. Kelley Blue Book has warned its readers about the AM radio issue, as have others regarding the problem with automakers sourcing their batteries from China.

While Congress has significant say and leverage over these matters, no one has more power than the American people. Just as China uses its rare earth minerals as geopolitical leverage to enact change favorable to the CCP, the American people have utilized their buying power to force scores of companies and causes to make operational adjustments. Hopefully, they recognize that and see this cause as one that’s worth fighting for.

• Jianli Yang, a former political prisoner of China and a Tiananmen Square Massacre survivor, is founder and president of Citizen Power Initiatives for China and the author of “For Us, The Living: A Journey to Shine the Light on Truth.”