(The Center Sqaure) – After recent filings revealed electric battery producer Gotion receives subsidies from the Chinese Communist Party, state Sen. Lana Theis called on Michigan government officials to cease subsidizing the company’s $2.4 billion dollar project in central Michigan.
“I can’t say I am surprised that Gotion was caught in this lie, but I can most certainly say I am once again disappointed by the company’s shady business practices and the insistence from our governor that they build a taxpayer-funded mega site in our state,” Theis, R-Brighton, said. “Time and time again, the company has proven they can’t be trusted, and I am once again calling on the state to end all agreements with Gotion and ensure not one more dime of taxpayer money reaches their pockets.”
Gotion CEO Chuck Thelen had previously maintained the Chinese government was not involved in the American wing of the company. But in July, the company admitted in a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing to receiving funding subsidies from the CCP.
Lawmakers have been sounding the alarm about the China-based company since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. announced the start of the taxpayer-subsidized project in 2022. Besides potential national security risks, construction of the plant has raised environmental concerns as well.
“It’s important to note that Gotion is a Chinese-based company, and that it is buying farmland, it is 100 miles from a National Guard location where a lot of training is done,” Chairman of the House Select Committee on China John Moolenaar said in August. “And Gotion is going to try and get taxpayer dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act, and I believe that’s the wrong thing for American taxpayers. Unfortunately, the state of Michigan is subsidizing it by hundreds of millions of dollars.”
