Republican lawmakers on Wednesday sent a letter to the Department of Defense urging it to place a major Chinese EV battery-maker onto its entity list, which alerts U.S. and international firms of entities that could be bolstering China’s military-industrial complex.
Firms added to the Pentagon’s entity list cannot receive U.S. military contracts.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, the chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, warned that Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), which provides services to Ford and is the world’s largest electric vehicle battery-maker, has deep ties to the Chinese government and its military apparatus.
“By including CATL on the Section 1260H List, the DoD would not only safeguard America’s military infrastructure from exposure to the [People’s Liberation Army], it would also send a powerful signal to U.S. companies who are currently weighing partnerships with CATL,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter addressed to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
