BIG RAPIDS, Michigan – Last fall, voters were outraged by plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant in a rural central Michigan community, angering a township board that backed the project. removing five of the seven board members in a recall election.
Lori Brock, an area real estate agent who helped lead the effort, said it could have been seven in all. But two members resigned early. “They knew they were going to be recalled,” he said.
At the time, Gotion Inc., a US-based subsidiary of a Chinese company. political discussions were going on acknowledges the merger With the Chinese Communist Party, it was narrow, playing in the Green Charter District and surrounding areas. Now, it plays out as a combination of two issues central to Republican messaging in the race for the White House — the rise of China as a geopolitical adversary and the emergence of electric vehicles in a critical battleground.
“They’re moving up the food chain, and it starts at the bottom,” Michigan GOP Chairman Pete Hoekstra said. referring to activists rallying to oust local officials.
Former President Donald Trump declared himself “100% FAITHFUL” of Gothion social media post wrote last month that the company would “put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.” More recently, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, traveled here last week to give a campaign speech at Brock’s horse farm.
A source familiar with the planning said Vance’s visit was designed to raise awareness.
In his speech, Vance tried to link the project to Vice President Kamala Harris, noting how the Democratic presidential candidate is. cast a tie-breaking vote For the Inflation Reduction Act, which makes green energy companies like Gotion eligible for tax credits. Gotion official he told Crain’s Detroit Business last year The company “currently” did not pursue tax credits.
“I think the most important thing is that we have to stop paying Chinese manufacturers for production, whether here or abroad,” Vance said in a meeting with reporters after his speech last week. “We want to build an American manufacturing industry and an American middle class. If we want to continue these policies, let’s do them for Americans and American businesses.”
While the debate over Gotion has expanded across party lines recently, with Republicans leading the opposition to Trump, the politics behind the project are more nuanced.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat, announced his plans for an EV battery plant in October 2022, weeks before he won a second term in a landslide. California-based Gotion will invest about $2.4 billion in the plant and create 2,350 jobs, Whitmer said.
One through the state Economic Development Fund Whitmer noted that it was created with Republican support, promising $175 million in grants and $540 million in tax breaks. then, local GOP officials was among those willing to support the deal.
The project quickly became a flashpoint. Tudor Dixon, Whitmer’s Republican opponent that year, the alarm sounded about spending taxpayer money on a company with ties to China. Since then, anti-China rhetoric has only increased in political campaigns. In Michigan, suspicions about a factory making battery components for electric vehicles are also complicated by the state’s rich history and heavy reliance on combustion-engine vehicles.
Along with skepticism about business and economic forecasts in the populous rural county, there’s also a sharp mood that doesn’t exist in my backyard. about 40,000.
“I feel like it’s going to be too soon,” said Jeff Tyson, a local taxidermist who attended the Vance event last week. “And we’ll see, too [they] rivers, lakes, farmland – everything disappears. … I want to see things improve here. I’d like to see more of this type of thing, not a Chinese company coming in.”
In it charterThe parent company of Gotion Inc., Gotion High-tech Co. Ltd.It promises to “establish a Party organization and carry out Party activities in accordance with the Constitution of the Communist Party of China.” And a July correction Gotion Inc. The company is “partially subsidized by government funding provided by the People’s Republic of China,” according to a federal Foreign Agents Registration Act statement issued on behalf of the company.
Vance addressed the concerns raised in his speech Congress held a hearing on China last January By Leon Panetta, a Democrat who served as CIA Director and Secretary of Defense under President Barack Obama. Responding to a question from Rep. John Muelnaar, R-Mich., who asked about the possibility of Chinese spying at the Michigan plant, Panetta said he “thinks there’s no question they’re going to take advantage of this situation.” “
Hosting Vance at a horse farm near the planned Gotion site, Brock said he was most concerned about strengthening a country that appeared to be the enemy.
“Why in the world would we do this and bring down our enemy?” Brock asked. “We cannot buy land in China. Why do they let them come here? So why are we paying for it with our taxes? Then we are the rest [without] money to support schools.”
Chuck Thelen, Gotio’s vice president of North American operations, wrote in an email to NBC News that he would not comment on “any political situation” regarding the Michigan project. He did not respond to follow-up questions about plans for the plant in the Big Rapids area.
Democrats see the dispute as a hyperlocal issue that won’t necessarily affect the presidential race or the competitive battle for an open seat in the U.S. Senate. Mecosta County, where the Gotion site is located, favored Trump over President Joe Biden 28 percentage points in 2020. Dixon defeated Whitmer despite campaigning in Gotion by a smaller margin there two years later.
“Michigan Democrats are rebuilding the economy that Trump destroyed as president,” Michigan Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes said in a statement. “Since then, thanks to the strong leadership of the Biden-Harris administration and Governor Whitmer, we have brought thousands of American jobs back home and grown our economy at a record pace. Trump has been a disaster for Michigan jobs, plain and simple, and we will not go back as we work to build a brighter future for all Michiganders.”
Hoekstra, the state GOP chairman, believes Gotion is a “huge motivator” for voters.
“Michigan taxpayers are wondering why we’re funding Chinese companies — Chinese auto interests — here in Michigan that could very well destroy our auto industry,” Hoekstra said. “If we were to invest billions of dollars in Michigan, there are many American companies jumping at the chance to get billions of dollars to create jobs.”
The issue has become a point of tension in the Senate race between Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and former Republican congressman Mike Rogers. Republicans, criticizing the lack of transparency in Gotion’s deals, accused Slotkin approves non-disclosure agreements related to the deal. Detroit News reported last year That Slotkin’s assistant signed an NDA to review the details after the project was made public. Slotkin never personally signed an NDA on Gotion, his campaign said.
Slotkin expressed reservations about Gotion’s plans and March presented a bipartisan legislative act It aims to strengthen federal oversight of major U.S. real estate purchases by companies with ties to rival countries, including China and Russia.
Rogers, who has campaigned hard on the issue, said in an interview that the rosy employment and economic impact projections deserve more scrutiny. He said some of the more than 2,300 promised jobs would be temporary construction jobs. Others will likely be hired away from smaller businesses that will likely struggle to match what Gotion has to offer.
“There were people blowing pixie dust on their faces,” Rogers said. “People were saying, well, wait a minute. “I’ve been here for 50 years and I’ve been paying taxes and they’re trying to poach my workers with higher wages because the government is giving them money.” Which is their money. You can see the secondary and tertiary effects of that.”