Kankakee Times

Congressmen Darin LaHood (R-IL) and John Moolenaar (R-MI) have introduced the No Official Giveaways Of Taxpayers’ Income to Oppressive Nations (NO GOTION) Act. The proposed legislation aims to prohibit companies affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from benefiting from green energy production tax credits established by the Biden Administration in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The bill also extends its restrictions to companies linked with Russia, Iran and North Korea.

The motivation behind the NO GOTION Act stems from concerns about Gotion Inc., a subsidiary of the CCP-affiliated Gotion High-Tech, planning to construct battery factories in Illinois and Michigan. These facilities, if established, would likely qualify for tax credits under the IRA, prompting fears of federal subsidies supporting companies linked to adversarial nations.

“As a member of the House Select Committee on the CCP and the House Intelligence Committee, I have seen the malign efforts that the CCP and other foreign adversaries like Iran and Russia are engaged in to undermine our domestic supply chains and national security,” LaHood said in a press release.

“Hard-working taxpayers should not be on the hook for billions in federal subsidies funneling to companies beholden to malign actors, like the CCP. It is clear that the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ is being leveraged by foreign adversaries to exploit loopholes to gain generous incentives and dominate key technologies in the United States. Congress and the federal government should be promoting pro-growth tax policy that supports American businesses and this commonsense bill is a positive step to get us back on track.”

Gotion Inc., the company behind a contentious electric vehicle battery plant in Manteno, has quietly registered as a Chinese foreign principal, according to Fox News Digital. The disclosure comes amid concerns from Republican politicians and residents about potential Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence.

Chuck Thelen, Gotion's North American manufacturing vice president, dismissed CCP concerns as fear-mongering, but on April 21, the company was registered as a Chinese foreign principal.

Gotion's ties to China and the CCP have raised national security and proximity concerns to U.S. military bases.

The company’s dealings have not gone unnoticed by governmental bodies either. Concerns over Gotion's ties to the CCP led to a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, and controversy peaked when the company sought $8 billion in taxpayer subsidies for a $2 billion Manteno battery facility, according to Kankakee Times.

The scope of CCP's control over Gotion has raised further eyebrows. The extent of the CCP's control over Gotion, as outlined in the company's by-laws, triggered further scrutiny.

"The extent of the CCP’s control over Guoxuan (Gotion) is explicitly mentioned in the company’s corporate by-laws, which require the company ‘to carry out Party activities in accordance with the Constitution of the [Chinese Communist Party],’" according to the letter from U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Moolenaar.

"In 2021, Guoxuan High-Tech hosted several company retreats where employees were mandated to recite a pledge of loyalty to the Party, including to ‘fight for communism.’ This is concerning, no less because the Biden Administration itself has described the PRC in its 2022 National Security Strategy as the "only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it," and that ‘Beijing frequently uses its economic power to coerce countries.’ The CCP’s control over Guoxuan High-Tech is no exception to the Party’s strategy to exert its influence in the United States."