Treasury Department’s decision ‘highly irregular and problematic,’ former ambassadors say
The Biden-Harris administration’s recently proposed national security regulations would, as crafted, give a free pass to Gotion High-Tech, a Chinese government-tied company developing an electric vehicle battery facility just 63 miles away from a sensitive military facility in northern Michigan.
Under the proposed rules, federal officials would be able to conduct increased scrutiny over foreign transactions within 100 miles of more than 50 additional military installations nationwide, including the National Guard’s Camp Grayling located in Crawford County, Michigan. The rules, however, will not be enforced retroactively, allowing Gotion High-Tech and its subsidiary, Gotion Inc., to avoid further scrutiny.
American military personnel have trained Taiwanese soldiers as part of annual military exercises at Camp Grayling, the Wall Street Journal reported last year. The training activity heightens the sensitivity of the base as it relates to nearby facilities operated by Chinese entities.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States—a task force overseen by the Treasury Department and tasked with reviewing foreign investments that may pose a national security threat—notably did review Gotion’s transaction, but determined in June 2023 that it was not a covered real estate transaction or purchase. Less than two months after the determination, the company finalized its purchase of 270 acres of land in Green Charter Township, Michigan, as part of its plan to construct its $2.4 billion EV battery component plant in the area. The Treasury Department’s rules proposed last month would likely make Gotion’s purchase a covered transaction.
“It is highly irregular and problematic while Treasury is closely tracking a ‘deal’ in Michigan with PRC-based and CCP-tied Gotion, it would include Camp Grayling on the list of these installations, yet exempts Gotion from the vetting even though its proposed location is well within the extended 100 mile range,” former United States ambassadors Joseph Cella and Peter Hoekstra said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon.
“This is gravely concerning,” they continued. “Gotion may have scored a win of an exemption or special treatment by Treasury through its high-powered and well-connected D.C. lobbyists and legal team. This latest development is yet another example of how PRC-based and CCP-tied Gotion is involved in an influence operation and unrestricted warfare.”
During the first half of 2024 alone, Gotion spent $2.7 million lobbying Congress, the Treasury Department, and the White House on a slate of issues including “foreign direct investment, trade, and economic development,” according to federal disclosures.
While Michigan state officials, led by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D.), have enthusiastically supported the project, earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies for it, locals, national security experts, and bipartisan lawmakers expressed concern over Gotion’s ties to the CCP.
