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LISTEN: Lawmakers Call for Blacklisting Company Behind $2B Battery Factory

Eric Sorensen

A group of Republican lawmakers has accused the Chinese company behind a proposed $2 billion electric vehicle battery plant in the Midwest of using forced labor — and urged the Biden administration to blacklist it from the country altogether.

Rep. Darin LaHood, who represents a district spanning central and northern Illinois, said in a statement that an investigation by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party found that Gotion’s supply chains and business relationships are entangled in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region — including the sourcing of lithium, aluminum foil, and other materials from companies or state-affiliated operators with known or suspected links to forced labor.

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