China is dominating the electric vehicle market, including battery manufacturing. According to Mint, more than half the world’s EV batteries are made in China.
To make those batteries, Chinese-owned companies have to mine a large amount of cobalt. Congressional investigations have found Chinese-owned companies rely on forced labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to mine the cobalt.
“It’s exploitation on steroids,” Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., told Straight Arrow News.
Rep. Smith introduced a bill that, if passed, would ensure cobalt mined with forced labor does not enter the United States.
More than 70% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the DRC, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
“The estimates are 25 to 40,000 kids and 200,000 adults who are being horribly abused, beaten, they get sick,” Smith said in an interview.
Smith’s investigations found that Chinese companies either wholly or partially own 15 of the DRC’s 19 cobalt mines.
The child- and forced-labor problem could get worse. The International Energy Agency predicted demand for cobalt will increase 600% by 2040.
The metal is not just used in EV batteries. Manufacturers also use cobalt to make lithium ion batteries that power smart phones and laptops.
“China is running all the mines,” Smith said. “They’re just absolutely cruelly mistreating the workers.”
It is already illegal to import goods that were made with forced labor. This bill would require the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to conduct an investigation into forced labor in cobalt mines. The task force would also present a strategy to Congress on how to prevent those products from entering the United States.
“These are horrible places,” Smith said. “It all goes to China and it all comes back to here and to Europe and elsewhere, Canada, in electric vehicles.”
Smith’s bill was approved by the Ways and Means Committee. It still needs to be passed by the full House and the Senate before it can be signed into law.