US lawmakers question Tesla about product sourcing in China

The chairmen of two congressional committees on oversight and trade have praised Tesla's expansion in China's far-western Xinjiang region, where mass internment camps have drawn heavy criticism, and asked the electric carmaker about its Chinese product sourcing.

The expansion into the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is a bad example and further empowers the CCP Chinese government at a fraught moment, according to Democrats Bill Pascrell and Earl Blumenauer, who are two House of Representatives ways and means subcommittees.

Tesla opened a showroom in Xinjiang on New Year's Eve, becoming the latest foreign business caught up in tensions related to the region.

On the last day of 2021, we meet in Xinjiang. Let's start Xinjiang on its electric journey in 2022! Xinjiang has become a major point of conflict between western governments and China in recent years. More than 1 million people, mostly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in camps there, according to UN experts and rights groups.

We are dismayed that Tesla has opened a showroom in the province that is at the heart of China's Uyghur detainment in camps and forced labor in factories, Pascrell and Blumenauer wrote in a letter dated January 19.

The chairmen asked Musk if Tesla makes or produces goods in Xinjiang and if so, to identify them. They also asked whether Tesla had any financial relationships with companies linked to Xinjiang and whether Tesla planned to expand into other regions in China.

The company operates a factory in Shanghai where it is ramping up production due to a surge in sales in China. China is an export hub for Teslas bound for Europe and other markets.

The US president Joe Biden and other lawmakers have stepped up pressure on companies to distance themselves from Xinjiang. Biden swore in December with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which barred imports of goods made in the region. The questions to Musk were to learn more about Tesla's compliance with the new law and other US trade regulations, according to the two lawmakers.

The US has labeled China's treatment of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims as a genocide, enacting a series of sanctions and regulatory measures against Beijing, including restrictions on US business dealings with local operators and suppliers.

The US government is planning to conduct a diplomatic boycott of the coming Beijing Winter Olympics.

China denies any human rights abuses or forced labour and says its policies are part of anti-terrorism efforts and poverty alleviation programs.

The Chinese embassy in Washington and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.