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.
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.
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.
The Treasury Department's rules proposed last month would likely make Gotion's purchase a covered transaction.
"Should this rule proceed, we urge you to have the language of rule apply retroactively to Gotion, and any other PRC-based and CCP-tied entity in a similar stage of their transactions, that fall within the 100 mile radius of CFIUS’ real estate jurisdiction," they wrote in the filing shared with the Free Beacon.
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