Thursday, September 26, 2019

Effort To Punish China Might Hit LA Instead

A new effort to punish China appears to likely to instead hit Los Angeles jobs instead, due to an obscure provision in a national defense bill, which seeks to bar Chinese manufacturers from supplying things like train cars and buses to the United States. According to a report from Wired, a provision in that national defense bill would block BYD, which manufactures electric buses in Lancaster, from the U.S. market. BYD supplies the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) with electric buses, and also employs hundreds at its Lancaster factory. Apparently, the little known provision in the national defense bill was inserted on behest of American electric bus manufacturers, who claim that BYD's buses would make it easier for China to spy on offshore Chinese nationals. BYD employs around 700 people in Lancaster.

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