Photo: Cadillac
Regardless of which side of the fence you stand on, the People’s Republic of China is a manufacturing behemoth fueled by a valuable resource for any modern economy. In addition to a large population (1.4 billion people), the Middle Kingdom also excels at manufacturing whatnots due to little regard for health & safety and environmental regulations.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Asian superpower ranks first in the world in terms of cereals, vegetables, fruit, fishery, poultry, meat, eggs, and cotton production. The PRC, which is controlled by the CCP after Mao Zedong became chairman of the Central People’s Government, further boasts a monopoly on rare earths.
The latter situation is bad news for the west, so much so that former president Donald Trump signed an executive order two years ago, declaring a national emergency. Rare earth minerals are critical for lots of applications, including military bits and pieces that include missile guidance systems, radar and sonar systems, and satellite communications.
What’s all this got to do with the automotive industry, though? For starters, plenty of automakers reluctantly agreed to share intellectual property in order to produce and sell vehicles in China. As mentioned earlier, 1.4 billion potential customers make up a tremendously large market. Similarly important, labor is tremendously cheaper in comparison to western rates. Worse still for the competitiveness of the U.S. market, the CCP is known for a lot of human rights abuses, including forced labor.
The Chinese Communist Party's targeted campaign against the Uyghur people and other Turkic Muslim groups in Xinjiang is a well-known subject. As per U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, eight major automakers use supply chains linked to forced labor in Xinjiang.
The automakers in question are Ford (includes Lincoln), General Motors (too many brands to list), Honda (Acura), Mercedes-Benz (AMG and Maybach), Stellantis (more brands than General Motors), Tesla, Toyota (Lexus), and the Volkswagen Group. As a brief refresher, importing products made with forced labor violates the United States' federal trade laws.
“Unless due diligence confirms that components are not linked to forced labor, automakers cannot and should not sell cars in the United States that include components mined or produced in Xinjiang,” said Wyden. He also highlighted that the United States of America considers the brutal oppression of the Uyghurs a genocide, a crime against humanity.
Wyden understands that a brand-new automobile contains a plethora of parts manufactured in heaven knows what place by heaven knows what supplier, details that are known exclusively by the automaker.
Some companies aren’t even aware that their supply chains are interconnected with the People’s Republic of China. For example, the F-35 Joint Program Office had to suspend deliveries of the Lockheed Martin F-35 after Chinese-supplied rare earths were found deep in the supply chain. More specifically, Honeywell didn’t know that its integrated power package subsystem has magnets produced with rare earths mined in the PRC.
The automotive industry is also notorious for hiding the truth from the public, with the Dieselgate scandal springing to mind. As a result, Wyden has addressed no fewer than seven questions to each of the aforementioned automakers. The most important of the bunch asks the automakers if their supply chains include any raw materials, mining, processing, or parts manufacturing linked to Xinjiang, including through sub-suppliers.
None of the eight automakers has responded to said questions thus far.
The latter situation is bad news for the west, so much so that former president Donald Trump signed an executive order two years ago, declaring a national emergency. Rare earth minerals are critical for lots of applications, including military bits and pieces that include missile guidance systems, radar and sonar systems, and satellite communications.
What’s all this got to do with the automotive industry, though? For starters, plenty of automakers reluctantly agreed to share intellectual property in order to produce and sell vehicles in China. As mentioned earlier, 1.4 billion potential customers make up a tremendously large market. Similarly important, labor is tremendously cheaper in comparison to western rates. Worse still for the competitiveness of the U.S. market, the CCP is known for a lot of human rights abuses, including forced labor.
The Chinese Communist Party's targeted campaign against the Uyghur people and other Turkic Muslim groups in Xinjiang is a well-known subject. As per U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, eight major automakers use supply chains linked to forced labor in Xinjiang.
The automakers in question are Ford (includes Lincoln), General Motors (too many brands to list), Honda (Acura), Mercedes-Benz (AMG and Maybach), Stellantis (more brands than General Motors), Tesla, Toyota (Lexus), and the Volkswagen Group. As a brief refresher, importing products made with forced labor violates the United States' federal trade laws.
“Unless due diligence confirms that components are not linked to forced labor, automakers cannot and should not sell cars in the United States that include components mined or produced in Xinjiang,” said Wyden. He also highlighted that the United States of America considers the brutal oppression of the Uyghurs a genocide, a crime against humanity.
Wyden understands that a brand-new automobile contains a plethora of parts manufactured in heaven knows what place by heaven knows what supplier, details that are known exclusively by the automaker.
Some companies aren’t even aware that their supply chains are interconnected with the People’s Republic of China. For example, the F-35 Joint Program Office had to suspend deliveries of the Lockheed Martin F-35 after Chinese-supplied rare earths were found deep in the supply chain. More specifically, Honeywell didn’t know that its integrated power package subsystem has magnets produced with rare earths mined in the PRC.
The automotive industry is also notorious for hiding the truth from the public, with the Dieselgate scandal springing to mind. As a result, Wyden has addressed no fewer than seven questions to each of the aforementioned automakers. The most important of the bunch asks the automakers if their supply chains include any raw materials, mining, processing, or parts manufacturing linked to Xinjiang, including through sub-suppliers.
None of the eight automakers has responded to said questions thus far.
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