DHS Oversight Chair, Rubio, Select Committee Chair Ask for FLETF Listings for CATL, Gotion
Sen. Marco Rubio, co-author of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, along with the leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Select Committee on China, have provided detailed supply chain maps for lithium-ion battery makers CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.) and Gotion High Tech, linking them to companies that transfer Uyghur workers and companies that mine minerals or make aluminum in Xinjiang.
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Under UFLPA, goods that either have inputs from Xinjiang or were made by companies that accepted transferred Uyghur workers are barred from entry into the U.S.
The pair of letters, released June 6, were directed at Homeland Security Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans Robert Silvers, who leads the interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, which chooses which companies go on the UFLPA entity list. The members of Congress asked FLETF to "immediately add" the firms to the list, which would block their goods from entering.
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said in a release announcing the letters: "The Select Committee has uncovered indisputable evidence that Gotion High Tech and CATL have supply chains that are deeply connected to forced labor and the ongoing genocide of Uyghurs in China.”
The Gotion letter included eight pages of evidence, and mentions Xinjiang Joinworld, which buys from Xinjiang Xinxin Mining Industry, which is a subsidiary of Xinjiang Nonferrous Metal industry Group, which, the letter says, advertises its employment of transferred laborers. "Xinjiang Nonferrous has also forced Uyghurs to share their homes with Han officials for surveillance and indoctrination, and moved Uyghurs into involuntary work at satellite factories and remote mine sites under the guise of 'poverty alleviation' and anti-extremism ‘training’ programs," the letter said. The footnote quoted from an industry association newsletter and other sources, but they dated to 2017 and 2020.
At a recent hearing, Deputy Undersecretary of Labor for International Affairs Thea Lee, a member of FLETF, said information on labor transfers was "not as fresh as we'd like" to put firms on the entity list (see 2404300047).
The letter said Gotion also buys from Shandong Nanshan Aluminum Co, which has Xinjiang subsidiaries -- Xinjiang Lianqiao Logistics Co. and Xinjiang Nanshan Silk Road Business Service Co. The letter said Gotion buys from BTR New Material Group Co., which is supplied by Xinjiang Tianhongji Technology.
"We stand ready to provide the FLETF with all necessary sourcing information related to the links and information provided above. If for whatever reason following a thorough examination of our evidence the FLETF does not choose to place Gotion on the UFLPA Entity List, we request a briefing from those determining officials immediately after that decision is made," the men wrote.
The CATL letter contained 10 pages of evidence -- not counting voluminous footnotes -- and alleged that CATL buys from some of the same Uyghur-linked suppliers as Gotion Tech, and also Yibin Libode New Materials Co., Tianqi Lithium Co., Ltd. , and Ganfeng Lithium Co.. The Yibin Libode New Materials firm has investment from Yibin Tianyuan Group Co., which the letter linked to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), as the Yibin Tianuyuan Group and XPCC co-own some other chemical companies. XPCC is already on the entity list. Hunan Yuneng New Energy Battery Material Co. also sells to CATL, the letter says. It traced links between Xinjiang Nonferrous and five other suppliers, of lithium-ion phosphate, cathode materials and high energy cathodes. It described attempts of CATL supplier, Ganfeng Lithium, to start mining lithium in Xinjiang with a minority investor linked to XPCC, though it said that didn't come to fruition.
"CATL’s supply chains are deeply compromised by links to entities whose goods, wares, articles, or merchandise is mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in" Xinjiang's Uyghur region, the members allege.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Tesla buys battery cells from CATL; according to coverage in S&P Global Intelligence, utility-scale energy storage buyers source from CATL as well.
Congress passed a law saying the Pentagon may not source from CATL, Gotion Tech or other Chinese battery suppliers, but that restriction doesn't start until 2027.