A Chinese-owned glass plant in Ohio is 'clobbering' its American competitors

Despite the economic boost that foreign investment can bring U.S. manufacturing, its outcomes can sometimes have negative consequences when a foreign-owned company "clobbers" its longtime American-owned competitor. 

"The rise of a Chinese automotive-glass plant in the Ohio heartland shows the risks when America’s biggest rival sets up shop," reports Gavin Bade of The Wall Street Journal.

Over the past decade, Fuyao Glass America has chipped away at its competitor's edge. "Vitro, the company that owns a plant in Crestline, Ohio, has spent the past year considering whether to shut down," Bade writes. "Fuyao is threatening about 250 jobs at the rival glass factory [that has been] operating since the 1950s."

When Chinese automotive glass maker, Fuyao, partnered with state and federal lawmakers to move into an abandoned General Motors factory in tiny Moraine, Ohio, the project "was hailed as a step to reviving a battered Rust Belt region," Bade explains. Ohio taxpayers, who supported Fuyao's move into the region, "now feel duped," according to the report.

Since 2019, Vitro has "shut three auto-glass plants in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana — decisions the company attributes in large part to Chinese competition," Bade reports. American companies like Vitro say they can't compete with Fuyao's pricing and accuse the company of unfair business and labor practices.

A federal raid on the Fuyao plant in 2024 led U.S. authorities to accuse dozens of Chinese business owners of colluding "to facilitate the harboring, transportation, and employment of illegal aliens at various factories,” including Fuyao, which allegedly funneled $126 million to companies in the scheme," Bade writes.

"Fuyao denies any wrongdoing," Bade adds. "Vitro and its Washington allies say Fuyao’s success reflects a way Beijing might try to hollow out American manufacturing capacity and undermine critical industries."

The sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel has politicians up in arms, but some workers think sale might save their jobs

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The fear of foreign control and the possible loss of jobs has many U.S. politicians and United Steelworkers’ leaders stoking opposition against the sale of U.S. Steel to Japanese-based Nippon Steel, but many of the industry's workers see the sale differently.

"Outside Pittsburgh, in Monongahela River valley towns where steel is still made, some workers and officials say the rhetoric is disconnected from what is happening on the ground," report Kris Maher, Bob Tita and Aaron Zitner of The Wall Street Journal. "Some say fears of foreign ownership are overblown and that the deal with deep-pocketed Nippon Steel offers the best chance to keep steel industry jobs in the region, and communities from being erased."

The voices against the $14.1 billion sale are big names, including President Joe Biden, both presidential candidates and "all four senators from Pennsylvania and Ohio, including Sen. John Fetterman," the Journal reports. However, West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly told the Journal: "I would bet that none of the national politicians have seen what I’ve seen and have not talked to these local workers. . . . This is nothing but politics." West Mifflin's U.S. Steel mill employs about 800 workers.

Both sides have cranked up their lobbying machines. "Kelly and other local officials are asking Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to get the Biden administration to hear their concerns. . . . A spokesman said the governor said his priority is protecting Pennsylvania workers," the Journal reports "Nippon Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori recently met with U.S. regulators. Ads running in Pittsburgh urge they 'keep steel jobs in steel city.'"

In Braddock, the Edgar Thomson plant "is among the world’s oldest mills, producing steel from liquid iron heated in blast furnaces. Active since 1875, it hums day and night," Maher, Tita and Zitner write.
"Braddock Mayor Delia Lennon-Winstead backs the deal and said presidential candidates who oppose it should provide another solution. 'Do they actually walk these streets and live in this area?” she said. 'Do they know the devastation of closing the mill, what it would do to this area?'"

Many U.S. farmers use Syngenta pesticide, which is owned by China. Its CEO is working to keep farmers' trust.

Jeff Rowe is working to overcome U.S.-Chinese tensions
by being trustworthy partner. (Syngenta photo)

Farm country isn't exempt from U.S.-Chinese tensions, but Syngenta's new chief executive, Jeff Rowe, is working to smooth ruffled feathers and keep American farmers' trust.

"For years, Syngenta Group has been considered a critical partner to thousands of American farmers. Rowe is trying to ward off a different perception: that it poses a threat to U.S. national security," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. While Syngenta's headquarters are in Switzerland, it is a subsidiary of China National Chemical, a "state-owned enterprise known as ChemChina. . . . The company has faced mounting roadblocks to its business in the U.S. . . ."

Concern over foreign ownership of U.S. farmland and companies has increased over the past decade. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has warned that "'Chinese ownership of companies needs careful review because you can have access to information concerning seeds, technology, and so forth,'" Thomas reports. "Last fall, Arkansas became the first U.S. state to order a Chinese-owned company, Syngenta, to sell its farmland."

Rowe is an Illinois farmer and past executive for DuPont Pioneer. "Despite living in Switzerland, he travels back to his hometown of Princeton, Ill., a city of about 8,000 people, a few times a year to help plant and harvest a couple of thousand acres of corn and soybeans," Thomas writes. 

Rowe understands that some policymakers are skeptical of Syngenta's intentions. He told Thomas, "Despite the publicity, we’re out in the local communities — farmers know us and respect us. If I see someone on the street in Princeton, they think, ‘That’s Jeff Rowe. I know who that is — he’s not a Chinese spy.’"

Rowe's mission is to create a bridge "between the two countries. Syngenta said that it isn’t a political organization and that legislators’ actions are potentially harmful to U.S. farmers and the agricultural market," Thomas adds. "Greg Rebman, an Illinois farmer, says he uses Syngenta pesticides for their effectiveness. If a conflict were to break out between the U.S. and China, he said he would be more hesitant to buy Syngenta’s products—but, for now, it’s a secondary issue."

Angry Maine residents will vote on plan to take over electric utilities in hopes of making them more accountable

Having had enough of high rates and poor customer service, some Maine voters are setting out to change who delivers their power. "Maine residents will vote Tuesday on a ballot measure that would dissolve its investor-owned utilities and replace them with a nonprofit," reports Evan Halper of The Washington Post. Fed-up Mainers are "joining a burgeoning national movement of consumers frustrated with power companies that they feel are unaccountable to ratepayers, and that have taken center stage in disasters such as this summer's devastating wildfires in Maui."

Mainers promote Pine Tree Power during morning
 traffic. (Photo by Andrew Dickinson, WP)

The ballot measure Maine voters will decide on Tuesday "calls for a hostile takeover of sorts, creating a nonprofit company called Pine Tree Power that would seize control of the state's electricity grid from Central Maine Power and Versant Power, the subsidiaries of multinational corporations that now own it," Halper explains. "The shoestring campaign is an existential threat to the industry, moving the Maine utilities to spend more than $35 million blitzing ratepayers with ads warning that the measure threatens to create massive public debt, unending legal fights and soaring bills for customers."

The massive ad campaign only drew more ire "giving customers one more grievance with firms they say should be investing the money in bringing them better service," Halper notes. "Pine Tree Power supporters are working with a meager $1 million budget but some high profile support, including the Sierra Club, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and environmentalist icon Bill McKibben."

No matter which way the Maine vote goes, more consumers seem to be scrutinizing their electrical companies' delivery, customer service and spending habits at a time when those companies are already stressed by extreme weather and increased demand, Halper writes. Electrical companies are trying to respond to issues with "nimble action while operating under a dated financial and regulatory model."

"A flash point in the debate is the way corporate utilities make their profits, collecting hefty interest payments from ratepayers on the big power grid projects the companies bankroll," Harper explains. "Pine Tree Power proponents say a public utility can save ratepayers billions on such investments, as its goal would be financing projects as cheaply as possible rather than generating profits for shareholders.'

Business owner Steven DiMillo is not in favor of the
takeover. (Photo by Andrew Dickinson, WP)

Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, "is urging voters to reject the Maine proposal, warning that enmeshing the state in a decades-long battle over control of utility poles and transmission lines would be a costly mistake," Halper reports. "'The last thing we should be doing is trying to force an acquisition by eminent domain to buy something that, once we buy, we don’t know how to run,' said Fred Forsely, the chief executive of Shipyard Brewing Co. and a public face of the opposition campaign. The sentiment is shared by the owner of another well-known business in Portland, DiMillo’s on the Water, which for decades has served tourists lobsters in a former 206-foot-long car ferry converted to a restaurant. 'I never look at government to fix something for us, said Steven DiMillo, who manages the business.'"

Senate adds amendment to defense bill to restrict China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from purchasing U.S. land

In another sign of U.S. tensions with competing countries, the U.S. Senate "voted overwhelmingly to prohibit China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from purchasing U.S. agricultural land and agricultural businesses," reports the Food and Environment Reporting Network. "The language was added to a military spending bill that was sure to pass the Senate and then be reconciled with a House version."

The amendment by Sen. Mark Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, "would instruct the powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interdepartmental panel led by the Treasury Department, to prohibit such purchases," Ag Insider reports. "The Russian invasion of Ukraine and a heightened Sino-U.S. rivalry have fueled concern about foreign ownership of U.S. assets."

Despite concerns, Chinese and Russian interests do not own much American soil. Ag Insider reports, "Foreign entities own 40.8 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, or 3.1% of the privately owned land in the nation, according to USDA data. Half of the foreign-owned land is forests. Canada accounts for one-third of the foreign-owned land. . . . China owns 347,000 acres at latest count."

Amid skepticism, Congress considers restricting farmland purchases by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea

Photo via USDA

Congressional support is building to "restrict China and other foreign adversaries from purchasing U.S. farmland, a reflection of a similar push by some states as well as apprehension over Chinese spy balloons, rising land prices and growing international competition," reports Adam Goldstein of the Washington bureau of States Newsroom. A bipartisan group of House members told Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a Feb. 27 letter, "Foreign ownership of agricultural land threatens small family farms and the overall health of the agricultural supply chain."

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., has introduced a bill to prohibit North Korea, Iran, China, and Russia from purchasing U.S. farmland and add the Agriculture Department to the Committee on Foreign Investment, "a multi-agency council that reviews financial transactions that affect national security," Goldstein reports. "Renée Johnson, an agricultural policy analyst, noted that these bills have much more to do with military infrastructure and conflict between the U.S. and the governments of China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea."

"Vilsack said in a Thursday Senate hearing that Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea together own under 400,000 acres of agricultural land as of 2021. He added that the nation's largest foreign landholders include Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Vilsack expressed concern over how federal foreign ownership restrictions could be implemented in a way that was fair and legally sound for international investors."

Clay Lowery, former assistant treasury secretary for international affairs, told Goldstein, "I do believe strongly in the ability for countries and entities to invest in the United States because I think that is actually a positive." Jennifer Zwagerman, director of the Drake University Agricultural Law Center in Iowa, told Goldstein, "My bigger fear is that we limit groups or entities or individuals that are really interested in farming or production themselves. And in doing so, we end up with land that is purchased by those less interested in farming and more in development."

Some doubt federal-level restrictions would be effective. "John Schwarz, a row crop farmer and lawyer in Cass County, Indiana, questioned if any national bill would be enforceable due to the sheer scope of farmland in the country," Goldstein writes. "He suggested it may be better left to counties and localities to handle." Schwarz told Goldstein, "If this is going to work, it really has to be on a micro level. I don't think a macro level is going to do it because there's just way too many ways to slip through, getting cute with the ownership and companies."

Foreign investment in U.S. farmland increasing; Chinese ownership has increased tenfold in less than a decade

Foreign investors acquired at least 1.6 million acres of U.S. farmland in 2016, the largest increase in more than a decade, according to a review of the most recent federal data. About 2.2 percent of U.S. farmland (1% of all U.S. land) is owned or long-term leased by foreign investors.

"The data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that foreign investors control – either through direct ownership or long-term leases – at least 28.3 million acres, valued at $52.2 billion. That area is about the size of the state of Ohio," Jonathan Hettinger reports for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. Most of that farmland is owned by timber and renewable energy companies, but some of it is used for meat production or crops.

Missouri relaxed its ban on foreign farmland ownership in 2013 when a Chinese company bought Smithfield Foods. "That move allowed the company, now known as WH Group, to acquire more than 40,000 acres of Missouri farmland, according to federal data." That deal put Chinese-sponsored businesses in control of about 25% of the state's pork production, Allen Fennewald reports for the Fulton Sun.

Smithfield, the world's largest pork producer, owns about 150,000 acres in the U.S., and Chinese businesses overall own about 191,000 acres worth $1.9 billion. Though that isn't much in the grand scheme of things, Chinese investment in U.S. agriculture has grown tenfold in less than a decade, according to USDA data. "And in Ohio, one of the states where a ban on foreign-owned farmland is being considered, WH Group bought two grain elevators in 2016, allowing the company to skip the middleman in feeding Smithfield’s livestock," Hettinger reports.

Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota and Oklahoma ban foreign ownership of farmland, and a group called Family Farm Action is lobbying for bans in other states, Hettinger reports. Jake Davis, the group's policy director, told him, "This is about food security for [foreign investors], it needs to be about food security for us."

The five states estimated to have the most foreign-controlled land are:

1. Maine, 3.1 million acres
2. Texas, 3 million acres
3. Alabama, 1.6 million acres
4. Washington, 1.5 million acres
5. Michigan, 1.3 million acres

"In 2016, Luxembourg had the largest increase of any country in foreign investment at 262,000 acres – all forestland – valued at $599 million, while Italy was second at 257,000 acres – almost entirely cropland – valued at $300 million," Hettinger reports. "Overall, Canadian individuals and entities own the most land at 4.7 million acres, valued at $4.6 billion. Netherlands is a close second at 4.5 million acres, valued at $6 billion Those countries hold significant forestland investments. EDP Renewables, a Portuguese renewable energy company, and Enel Green Power, an Italian renewable energy company . . . both control significant swaths of farmland through long-term leases."

Asian-carp processing industry booms in Western Ky., which will get nation's first industrial park for that purpose

The Asian carp processing industry in far Western Kentucky is getting a significant boost from abroad: Chinese investors joined state and local officials at Wickliffe Friday to announce the first industrial park in the U.S. dedicated to processing the invasive fish, which is a popular food in China.

"The investors represent seven new companies that will build in the 72-acre International Fisheries Industrial Park, spearheaded by Angie Yu, president of Two Rivers Fisheries which anchors the park along Ky. 286. Each is expected to invest $1 million and hire about 10 employees, according to Yu," David Zoeller reports for The Paducah Sun.

Two Rivers has bought, processed and sold 10 million pounds of carp in the past seven years since it opened, buying from about 30 commercial fishing groups in Kentucky and surrounding states, Zoeller reports. On Jan. 1 the state began a first-of-its-kind partnership with the fishery to pay anglers for Asian carp and sell their catches in online auctions in an effort to rid local waters of the voracious fish. 

One of the investors, Lining He, said at the ceremony Friday that Asian carp processing is a $10 billion industry in China and accounts for more than 10 percent of global seafood consumption. "It probably could be a gold mine" in Kentucky, said He, who has a doctorate in ecological economics.

"This industrial park creates economic opportunity, and something we haven't seen - a zero waste fish facility, with a cluster of industry fish companies in one area," Commissioner Erran Persley of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development said at the ceremony.

How a journalist's murder by Saudis may have doomed a big new manufacturing plant in the heart of Appalachia

The October 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist and Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi may have dashed hopes for a high-tech plant in depressed Eastern Kentucky.

Battery manufacturer EnerBlu cited "unexpected geopolitical factors" on Feb. 5 when it suspended plans for a $372 million plant in Pikeville that would have brought as many as 875 jobs to a region that has lost thousands of coal jobs in recent years, Sydney Boles reports for Ohio Valley Resource. Though the project ran into problems with the land quality on the plant's site, which was located on a reclaimed surface mine, EnerBlu CEO Daniel Elliott told OVR it would have been able to work through those issues.

Jamal Khashoggi (Photo by April Brady, Project on Middle East Democracy)

The main problem was financial: EnerBlu representatives said the plant was suspended because a primary potential investor had withdrawn. They didn't identify the investor, but Elliott said it was Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group. SoftBank operates the Vision Fund, an investment fund meant to support renewable energy projects, Boles reports.

"The Vision Fund’s largest investor, contributing a reported $45 billion, was the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, a government-associated entity chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman," Boles reports. "The Saudis and SoftBank planned to build in Saudi Arabia the world’s largest solar project, a 200-gigawatt array. The project would require a massive amount of energy storage capacity, Elliott said, storage capacity that EnerBlu would provide."

EnerBlu accepted a reported $30 million in tax incentives from Kentucky to relocate its headquarters to Lexington in anticipation of opening the Pike County facility, though EnerBlu had not signed a contract with SoftBank to produce batteries for the Saudi project.

After Khashoggi was murdered, U.S. intelligence said it was at the behest of the crown prince, and many in the international community began to reconsider whether to partner with the Saudis. "Business leaders faced a decision point when the Saudi government hosted a Future Investment Initiative conference in late October. According to Bloomberg, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son skipped the investment summit and the Saudis withdrew their substantial contribution to the bank’s investment fund," Boles reports. "There would be no massive solar development in Saudi Arabia, and no need for EnerBlu’s batteries to support it."

Worldwide campaign promotes U.S.; states like Louisiana reporting record tourism dollars

Buses driving around London advertise vacations to the Louisiana bayou, while shoppers in stores can see videos of what it's like on the beaches of South Carolina. It's all part of a U.S. tourism campaign by a company called Brand USA, "a nonprofit, public-private partnership created by legislation President Barack Obama signed in 2010" to promote all 50 states to world travelers, Pamela Prah reports for Stateline. "The program is funded by the private sector, mostly the tourism-related industry, with matching federal funds of up to $100 million a year from a $10 fee that international travelers pay when they visit the U.S. Last year, the first full year of operation, Brand USA received $60 million in private-sector funding. That more than doubled to $130 million this year." (Brand USA photo)

One of the first states to work with Brand USA was Louisiana, which reports shatter tourism records, with 26.3 million visitors in 2012 resulting in $10.7 billion, and $665 million in state tax revenue generated through domestic and international visitors. That represents a more than 26-to-1 return on investment of state funding, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne said in a news release. The state has created promotional videos in German, French and Spanish for the company's website, Prah reports.

The website Discover America has links to each state, promoting tourist attractions, state facts, outdoor adventures, the state's history, and fun suggestions for travelers, such as ordering grits and saying y'all in Alabama, where to get the best desserts in Nebraska, and to order a Moxie soda in Maine.

Foreign firms invest heavily in small-town America

The economies of some small towns are making a big economic comeback, courtesy of foreign investors. Kentucky is one state whose small towns have relied heavily on business from outside the U.S. State Cabinet for Economic Development statistics show "Foreign companies made 30 percent of the investments announced in 2011 and 35 percent in 2012, and were responsible for 23 percent and 24 percent of the state’s job growth the past two years, with 2013 looking just as good," Mark Green writes in The Lane Report, a business magazine based in Lexington. (Lexington Herald-Leader photo by Charles Bertram: Toyota plant)

Kentucky isn't the only state soaring in foreign investments. "For the first time since 2001, the U.S. knocked China out of first place in an annual survey of executives rating favorable places for foreign direct investment," James Hagerty reports for The Wall Street Journal. A Chinese company agreed in May agreed to pay $4.7 billion for U.S. pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc., an Indian company announced plans to pay about $2.22 billion for Ohio's Cooper Tire and Rubber Co., while Toyota said it would invest $200 million to expand parts plants in Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee. (Read more)

"Kentucky is home currently to about 425 foreign-owned companies from 30 nations, employing more than 80,000 people," Green reports. "There are 156 Japanese-owned companies employing 37,000-plus and 178 European-owned companies that employ more than 26,000. The state has nearly 100 more foreign-owned operations in 2013 than it did in 2003." Over the past three years, foreign-owned firms have grown 12 percent, compared to the state's overall growth rate of 6 percent.

The automotive industry has invested heavily in Kentucky. "Since January 2010, more than 200 domestic and foreign motor-vehicle-related projects have been announced in Kentucky, representing more than 14,400 new jobs and nearly $3.5 billion in new investment, more than one-third of all new investment announced," Green reports. "Kentucky produced more than 1 million light vehicles in 2012, its most in five years, ranking the state fourth in vehicles made. So far in 2013, Kentucky ranks third in light vehicle production – on a per capita basis, the state ranks first." (Read more)

Missouri passed bill to allow foreign land ownership, apparently to clear way for sale of Smithfield

"Last-minute legislative maneuvers in Missouri may remove one potential legal obstacle to Shuanghui International Holdings' proposed $4.7 billion purchase of Smithfield Foods Inc, which would be China's largest purchase to date of a U.S. company," report Lisa Baertlein and P.J. Huffstutter of Reuters. 

State Rep. Casey Guernsey, whose rural county in northern Missouri has Smithfield and its pork-producing subsidiaries as its largest taxpayers, passed a bill that would allow 1 percent of the state's agricultural lands to be in foreign ownership, Baertlein and Huffstutter report. "Missouri and at least seven other U.S. states -- Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin -- have oft-overlooked laws that prohibit foreign ownership of agricultural land."

The legislation was filed at the behest of foreign interests, "who already effectively hold about 91,000 acres out of the state's estimated 29.1 million farmland acres and wanted the laws changed," Reuters reports. Guernsey's bill and a companion measure "were passed by the legislature on the last day of its session, less than two weeks before the Smithfield deal was announced on May 29." Gov. Jay Nixon still needs to sign the bill, and the state's Agriculture Department has to approve the land sales. (Read more)

Chinese meatpacker in line to buy Smithfield

"Chinese meat producer Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. agreed to acquire Smithfield Foods Inc. for about $4.7 billion, striking what would be the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese buyer — should it get past what is likely to be heavy regulatory scrutiny," Dana Cimilluca reports for The Wall Street Journal.

There may be other bidders than the Chinese firm, which is also known as Shineway. Smithfield Chairman Joseph Luter told Cimilluca, "Lots of people love us. I'll leave it at that."

The United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents 16,000 of Smithfield's 46,000 workers, many of them rural, said it favored the deal because it would leave current management and collective-bargaining agreements in place.

Cimilluca notes, "There is no guarantee that political concerns, fears surrounding Chinese food safety or other factors won't scuttle the deal before it is consummated. The companies said they would submit the deal voluntarily for review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States." (Read more)

The deal comes after a large Smithfield shareholder, Continental Grain Co., had urged the company to split itself up, notes Meghan Grebner of Brownfield.