A small US town is putting a spotlight on Chinese investment in America
As the US presidential campaign enters its final month, voters face the crucial question of which candidate is best equipped to navigate the risks and rewards of foreign investment at their doorstep.
MICHIGAN: A small town in America’s Midwest has become a major battleground in the competition between the world’s two largest economies.
The community of Green Charter Township, located in the swing state of Michigan, is deeply divided over a proposal to build an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant.
While the factory promises to bring in thousands of jobs, those who oppose it have raised several concerns – the biggest being the company behind it has strong links to China.
As the US presidential campaign enters its final month, voters now face the crucial question of whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump is best equipped to navigate the risks and rewards of such foreign investment at their doorstep.
TENSIONS AT BOILING POINT
Green Charter Township, just outside the city of Big Rapids, has a population of just over 3,000 residents.
While life is usually peaceful there, tensions recently reached boiling point.Â
The US$2.4 billion EV battery plant set to be built there has made the rural community the focus of international headlines.
Gotion – a US-based subsidiary of a Chinese company – is behind the factory, which will span 186,000sqm and produce lithium battery components for EVs.
It will be situated just south of a farm owned by Lori Brock, who told CNA about her troubled feelings over the plant and how she and her friends are fighting to derail the project.
“I think the Americans should be putting and investing into American companies, not Chinese companies,” she said.
These sentiments come as several US states have banned Chinese companies and citizens from purchasing their land.
Gotion, which reportedly received US$800 million in subsidies from Michigan, now owns some of the land on which the EV plant is set to be built.
Such foreign investment in the US has been spurred by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that allocated billions of dollars in green energy subsidies.
TRUMP’S AND HARRIS’ STANCES
Chinese investment has become highly political in this battleground state – one that could decide the outcome of the Nov 5 election.
In recent months, former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump posted online that the plant would “put Michiganders under the thumb of China’s Communist Party in Beijing”, adding that he was “100 per cent opposed” to it.
Meanwhile, Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris mentioned China once during her Democratic National Convention speech, saying: “I will make sure that we lead the world into the future on space and artificial intelligence. That America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.”
In contrast, Trump mentioned China 14 times in his own party convention speech.
His running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, rallied on Brock’s farm recently and criticised Gotion’s EV plant project.
Gotion and its lawyers did not respond to CNA’s requests for comment, but its American Vice President of Manufacturing previously said that allegations of Gotion bringing communism to America are false, and that the company takes environmental laws extremely seriously.
The future of the project is currently being battled out in the courts, while the land Gotion has purchased sits ready for development.
NOT ALL RESIDENTS UPSET
Another Green Charter Township resident, Ormand Hook, is also fiercely opposed to Gotion’s plans.
He joined a group that helped overthrow the township’s board of trustees who supported the EV factory proposal.
“Why is America voluntarily surrendering to the economic wishes of China?” he questioned. “In the old days, we fought wars with bombs and bayonets. Now it's through the world of business.”
Nevertheless, not all residents are upset.
Small business owner Carlleen Rose and her friend Jim Chapman said they think the EV plant could breathe life back into the township, which is located in one of the poorest counties in Michigan.
Supporting Gotion's plans has not come without consequences. Chapman was tossed out as the township’s supervisor for supporting the project, while Rose said aggression at local meetings made her fearful.
“I was actually taking mace with me. Now, that is ridiculous. I never thought, ever, in my town that I would experience what I experienced,” she added.
“At 70 years of age, I have no intentions of keeping my mouth shut about this even though many people would like me to.”
The pair, who said they are not receiving incentives from Gotion, stressed that they do not support China’s Communist Party.
They said Gotion is not affiliated to the party, and laughed at the suggestion that the firm will spy on Americans.
Chapman quipped: “What are they going to do? Come on in and spy! What are you going to get? Carlleen's fudge recipe?”Â