To Lure Michigan Voters, Trump Campaign Stokes China Fears

For two years, a rural town in the middle of Michigan has been embroiled in a civil war over plans by a Chinese-owned electric vehicle battery company to build a $2.4 billion factory.

On Tuesday, the local furor collided with presidential politics as the Trump campaign sought to leverage anti-China sentiment and concerns over the future of the electric vehicle industry in Michigan for political gain.

The fight over the E.V. battery facility has turned Green Charter Township, which is about 60 miles north of Grand Rapids, into the latest battleground over Chinese investment in the United States. Residents have expressed various concerns about the factory, including that it will be used by China to spy on Americans and will pollute the local environment.

The debate over the intentions of the Chinese company, Gotion, has led to angry town hall meetings, the ousting of the township’s board in an election last November and litigation over the future of the project.

Michigan is a pivotal swing state in the November election, and a New York Times/Siena poll this month showed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, leading former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, by 4 percentage points.

At a 150-acre horse farm owned by one of the most vocal “No Gotion” activists, Senator JD Vance, Mr. Trump’s running mate, blamed Ms. Harris for Gotion’s arrival in Michigan. In 2022, Ms. Harris cast the deciding vote that enabled passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which created billions of dollars in new green energy subsidies and has lured foreign companies to the United States.