Unplug XPeng’s New York IPO

The State Department just urged Americans to divest Chinese Communist Party companies’ stocks at risk of de-listing from our capital markets. How is the CCP responding? Incredibly, it’s bringing more of its companies here, confident Wall Street allies will help ensnare more U.S. investors and underwrite more of its malevolence.

A poster-child for such a gambit is XPeng Motors. It’s expected to raise a billion-plus dollars in an over-subscribed Initial Public Offering in New York tomorrow. Known as China’s Tesla, XPeng manufactures electric cars.

That’s a particularly apt comparison because XPeng has been accused of stealing Tesla’s patented intellectual property. Ditto, Apple’s closely held autonomous vehicle technology.

Before we reward an alleged serial thief of American IP with the money of mostly unwitting U.S. investors, this IPO should be paused and subjected to close national security and national interest scrutiny.

This is Frank Gaffney.