Washington:
The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee said on Friday that Republicans in Congress are protecting Elon Musk’s Chinese investments by removing provisions that restrict US investment.
Rep. Rosa De Lauro said in a letter that Musk, the CEO of electric car maker Tesla, may be seeking to remove a provision regulating U.S. investment in China from the government funding process. Ga because of his “extensive investments in China in key sectors and his personal ties to China. The leadership of the Communist Party, and the original funding deal calls into question the real reason for Musk’s opposition.” Musk posted several critical posts about DeLauro on Friday, including one saying he “needs to be kicked out of Congress!”
President-elect Donald Trump has named Musk, a billionaire, as co-head of a plan to cut government spending. Musk helped lead online opposition to a government funding bill that would have included restrictions on Chinese investment. “Musk’s investment in China and his ties to the Chinese Communist Party have grown over the past few years with Tesla’s Shanghai plant alone producing nearly 50 percent of Tesla’s global automobile production,” DeLauro wrote.
About a quarter of Tesla’s global revenue in 2023 will come from sales of Chinese-made vehicles from the Shanghai factory, DiLauro said, adding that Tesla is in China to make key batteries for its electric vehicle supply chain. Launched a $200 million factory. He added that proponents of regulating U.S. investment in China have advocated adding “mass battery manufacturing to the list of technologies that are subject to outbound investment screening.”