California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna at the National Action Network 35th Anniversary Conference in New York on April 8, 2026.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Ro Khanna, Ranking Member of the House China Select Committee, led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in pressing Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to submit an overdue report on illegal labor practices by Chinese companies in the U.S. auto industry.
In a new letter sent to Blanche on Wednesday morning and shared exclusively with CNBC, the lawmakers requested an update on the report Congress commissioned earlier this year. This comes after CNBC visited a major auto glass manufacturer in Canna, California. Vitrocriticize Chinese competitors, Fuyaolowering prices and eliminating competition.
Khanna’s letter was joined by Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio), Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania), and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania).
“The stability and security of America’s auto supplier industrial base is critical,” the lawmakers said in the letter. “As thousands of American workers in the auto manufacturing industry face job loss, companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or their affiliates are expanding their presence in communities across the country.”
The lawmakers wrote that while Chinese companies “claim a commitment to domestic employment, credible reports of labor trafficking, forced labor, and illegal employment practices raise serious concerns that their true purpose is to exploit the U.S. job market, not to serve it.”
Congress required the overdue report as part of the Commerce, Justice, Science, Energy and Water Development, Interior and Environment spending bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law in January.
The bill report said the committee is concerned about “illegal employment practices involving human smuggling or illegal labor in the U.S. auto parts and glass manufacturing industry trade chain, particularly as it relates to business entities affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party and their affiliates.”
At least 120 days after enactment, the bill required the Department of Justice to report on “investigative and prosecutorial actions taken against such entities involved in the forced labor supply chain and a detailed breakdown of all related costs to implement these efforts.”
Khanna said in a statement that the letter came after “spending time in the heartland as a senior member of the China Task Force and hearing from workers, manufacturers and union leaders about the need to invest in American jobs to compete with China.”
“What I’ve heard is that companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, like Fuyao, are being harmed by not competing fairly and engaging in illegal labor practices. The Justice Department must release the required reports on these practices, now overdue.”
The lawmakers in the letter specifically targeted Fuyao. In 2024, federal law enforcement raided Fuyao’s factory in Moraine, Ohio, as part of a civil forfeiture complaint related to an investigation into illegal staffing and money laundering activities that could amount to $126 million.
Lawmakers also pointed to a raid on an auto manufacturing plant in Ohio run by Chinese company Qingdao Risong and another raid on a WellMade Industries manufacturing facility in Georgia.
“The violations of the laws listed above do not appear to be isolated incidents, but rather evidence of a systematic pattern of abuse by Chinese Communist Party-affiliated companies or their affiliates operating in the United States,” they wrote.
“As Chinese Communist Party-linked auto suppliers and their affiliates continue to expand their presence in the U.S. market, it is important that the Department of Justice and its partners closely examine their operations for evidence of violations of U.S. trade and labor laws,” they said.
Commissioners asked for a response by June 19, but the Justice Department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
