Michigan elections FAQ: China, Gotion, NDA claims fly in Slotkin, Rogers race

• Threats of Chinese influence on American politics have become a common theme in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race
• Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Elissa Slotkin are trading barbs about supposed Chinese connections
• New ads make false, misleading or unproven claims about both candidates

Chinese influence in Michigan economic development deals and political interests is the latest point of contention in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race.

On Wednesday, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar and other Republican Party officials gathered in Green Charter Township to protest a planned battery project run by Gotion, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of the Chinese company Gotion High-Tech. 

Rogers and fellow Republicans are running ads attempting to link Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin to the project, while Slotkin and fellow Democrats are running ads accusing Rogers of separate ties to China.

The ads make a series of false, misleading or unproven claims about a non-disclosure agreement signed by Slotkin, her vote on a broad spending bill and Rogers’ past work in the telecommunications industry, according to a review by Bridge Michigan. 

Bridge explored several of the central questions cropping up in the U.S. Senate race about China’s influence and continues to invite readers to ask questions about political issues as part of our Michigan elections FAQ series, which includes a weekly live video show and written responses.

Have a question? Submit it here. 

Why the focus on Gotion? 

Gotion is set to receive $175 million in state subsidies and 30 years of tax breaks to build an electric vehicle battery plant near Big Rapids, create 2,350 jobs and invest nearly $2.4 billion in the region. 

Critics have been wary of potential environmental impacts, the hefty state subsidies and Gotion’s ties to China.

Related:

• Warning of China threat, Trump and Michigan Republicans bash EV battery plant
• Gotion scores court win in battle to build battery plant in Green Township
• Where mega battery, EV projects stand after $1 billion in Michigan subsidies

Gotion High-Tech, the parent company of the California-based Gotion Inc., operates under rules that align businesses with the Chinese Communist Party, which in recent years has increased its influence among businesses in China.

A July amendment to Gotion, Inc.’s Foreign Agents Registration Act diverged from previous disclosures to reflect that the company is “partially” subsidized by the Chinese government which prompted renewed criticism. 

Gotion, Inc. officials have maintained the American operation has no connections to Communism and has said it voluntarily submitted to a financial review through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. 

That review never happened though, because the federal agency determined the project was outside its jurisdiction.

Did Slotkin sign a 'secret deal' on Gotion? 

Rogers — along with Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra and other GOP groups — have criticized the less-than-transparent nature under which the Gotion project and other Michigan economic development deals were made. 

Dozens of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle previously signed confidentiality agreements with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation as the state was pursuing the Gotion deal, including Republicans like former Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and current House Minority Leader Matt Hall.

Rogers and the National Republican Senatorial Committee this week announced new TV ads slamming Slotkin and alleging she “signed a secret deal that helped a Chinese company.”

Slotkin did sign a non-disclosure agreement related to two separate potential economic development projects in her congressional district, but the document she signed did not specifically reference Gotion, which was not in her district.

Bridge obtained a copy of the NDA through a Freedom of Information Act request. View it here. 

Republicans making the Gotion claim point to a Fox News report on a December 2022 amendment to Slotkin’s NDA that extended it to "any potential development project identified as confidential either orally or in writing by the MEDC."

But Fox News failed to point out that the Gotion project had already been publicly announced at that point by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. NDAs are traditionally used to prohibit disclosure of potential projects during negotiation. 

GOP legislative leaders who signed NDAs related to Gotion did so in 2021, when the state was still pursuing the deal but had not yet landed it.

Slotkin “never signed any agreement related to the Gotion project or the Chinese government” and any insinuation to the contrary is a “completely false attack,” Antoine Givens, Slotkin’s campaign spokesperson, said this week. 

Has Mike Rogers benefited from Chinese interests? 

Slotkin’s campaign and Democratic groups have claimed that after leaving Congress, Rogers’ work in telecommunications aided Chinese interests and risked U.S. national security. 

One recent Slotkin ad campaign accused Rogers of “helping Chinese tech companies get access to the U.S.” Fact-checking organization PolitiFact on Friday concluded that claim is false.

Rogers previously worked in advisory roles for technology companies like AT&T and Nokia. Both companies have been scrutinized for connections to Huawei, a Chinese technology company with ties to the Chinese government. 

“Rogers worked for AT&T while it was pursuing deals with Chinese phone companies to sell their devices in the U.S.” PolitiFact concluded. “But Rogers’ role was separate from those business decisions, the company said, and there’s no evidence he was involved.”

Rogers’ campaign has denied any affiliation with Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese technology company, both of which he investigated during his tenure in Congress.

Does Gotion pose a national security threat?

Some former federal officials think so.

Moolenaar, a Caledonia Republican who chairs the House’s Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, held a hearing on the Gotion deal in January.

Mike Pompeo, who served as CIA director and later Secretary of State under Republican President Donald Trump, called the Gotion development plans “deeply dangerous to our national security.” 

Leon Panetta, former U.S. Secretary of Defense under then-President Barack Obama who spoke at this week’s Democratic National Convention, has said he doesn’t “think there’s any question that they are going to take advantage of that situation,” adding that U.S. entities should be wary of providing funds without ensuring it wouldn’t undermine national security. 

“I think we have to be very vigilant about what the hell is going on,” Panetta said at the January hearing. 

Moolenaar, Slotkin proposed legislation

Late last year, Moolenaar sponsored the No Official Giveaways Of Taxpayers’ Income to Oppressive Nations (NO GOTION) Act, which would explicitly prevent Gotion and other companies with ties to foreign adversaries from getting federal tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Separate legislation sponsored by Slotkin and Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, in the House and U.S. Sens. Stabenow and Gary Peters in the Senate would give the federal government additional authority to review large-scale projects and purchases by companies aligned with foreign governments of concern. 

Though the proposal wouldn’t impact already completed deals like Gotion, Slotkin told The Detroit News in March it could root out bad actors and alleviate concerns about projects that don’t pose a threat. 

What about tax incentives?

Gotion has received state tax incentives, but Republicans this week also accused Slotkin and Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris of voting “to reward” Gotion with tax incentives at the federal level. 

They cite Slotkin and Harris votes on the wide-ranging Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping 2022 federal law that funded new clean energy projects and efforts to reduce prescription drug prices, among other things. 

The law does allow clean energy companies like Gotion to pursue advanced manufacturing tax credits. But Gotion officials have publicly stated they do not intend to pursue the tax credits for the Michigan plant. 

Does Trump approve of Gotion?

In a post on his social media website Truth Social, Trump said he’s “100% opposed” to the project, arguing that it would “put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.” 

Concerns about electric vehicles and Chinese influence on the auto industry have been recurring issues for Trump, particularly in Michigan, where he hopes to curry favor with the auto workers he maintains could lose their jobs as EVs take up more market share. 

During a July appearance in Michigan, Trump expanded on that theme, saying of Chinese companies, “if they want to come in and sell us cars, they can, but they have to build plants here and they have to hire our workers.”

Gotion officials pounced on that comment, claiming in a July 24 press release that it indicated Trump “unequivocally supported the onshoring of electrification manufacturing in our state and in the United States.”

Is the project "taking away jobs from Michigan workers?”

The new Republican attack ad launched this week against Slotkin also claims the project is “taking away jobs from Michigan workers.”

But Chuck Thelen, Gotion’s vice president of manufacturing in North America, said the company will be “an American plant on American soil for American customers, American workers.” 

Supporters have lauded the plan as a way to attract and retain talent in Mecosta County. 

While Michigan’s population has grown slightly since 2010, Mecosta County’s dropped 5.5 percent to 40,720, while losing more than 1,000 jobs in recent years, according to economic developers.

Thelen told Bridge Wednesday that their estimates predict a $106 million annual payroll for the county once the plant is in full swing, “which eclipses anything else that’s nearby.” 

Can Gotion project be stopped? 

Opponents are trying, but options are limited. 

Last year, voters ousted the five remaining township board members who had signed off on the project and replaced them with anti-Gotion candidates, who have thus far been unsuccessful in stopping the project from moving forward.

Gotion and the new Green Charter Township board are currently locked in a legal battle, with the company alleging in federal court that the township board is violating development agreements. 

So far, Gotion is winning that fight. Earlier this month, a federal judge upheld an injunction that prohibits township officials from interfering with the development agreement Gotion signed with the previous board. 

The company currently expects to open the factory in 2026.