ICYMI: Governor Glenn Youngkin took decisive action to halt a Chinese battery company from coming to Virginia, citing concerns it would serve as a “Trojan horse” for the Chinese Communist Party.
A year after Youngkin’s decision, the United States has now banned the Pentagon from purchasing batteries from that very same company.
As Bloomberg reports, “US lawmakers have banned the Defense Department from buying batteries produced by China’s biggest manufacturers, furthering efforts in Washington to decouple the Pentagon’s supply chain from its geopolitical rival. The rule implemented as part of the latest National Defense Authorization Act that passed on Dec. 22 will prevent procuring batteries from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd.”
The move by lawmakers is just the latest validation of Youngkin’s decision in January 2023 to protect Virginia from the Chinese company, CATL, which was in partnership with a Ford electric vehicle battery plant under consideration in the Commonwealth.
In September, Congressional Republicans launched an investigation into Ford’s partnership with the same company, citing security concerns.
As Fox News reported, the lawmakers expressed concerns Ford’s partnership with CATL in a battery plant “could aid China’s efforts to expand its control over United States electric vehicle supply chains and jeopardize national security by furthering dependence on China… Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin opposed the plant over China’s potential influence in the plan and argued that ‘CATL and the Chinese Communist Party would have full operational control over the technology.’”