While you may think the classic American brands you see every day are entirely domestic, many are actually owned by Chinese investors.
The United States is home to many iconic American brands that dominate the global market; However, while these brands may seem All-American, even they have important stakeholders all over the globe. Keep reading to see which U.S. giants are backed by foreign conglomerates.
1. AMC
Popular cinema company AMC, short for American Multi-Cinema, has been around for over a century and is headquartered in Leawood, KS. In 2012, Beijing-based Dalian Wanda Group became the majority stakeholder, giving them the power to make decisions at the executive level. Wanda invested $2.8 billion in the historic deal.
As the largest cinema company in the world, AMC is owned by several investors. In 2018, Silver Lake Partners of Menlo Park, CA made an investment of $600 million, giving the company some executive power, but still much less than Wanda.
When asked if they would help AMC while it struggles through the Covid economic crisis, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said:
“They ‘could,’ but it would require cash outflow from China to a foreign business, and Wanda was limited in its ability to further invest by the Chinese government a couple of years ago.”
Thus, AMC will struggle to stay afloat for the indefinite future without help from its Chinese investors.
2. General Motors
Based in Detroit, Michigan, General Motors is known as America’s largest automobile manufacturer. While the company isn’t owned by a Chinese company, it relies on its partnership with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) to stay profitable. In 1998, the two auto giants teamed up to form SAIC-GM, a Chinese brand with a 6 million square-foot facility in Shanghai.
While GM is still extremely popular in the U.S., its extra sales in China through SAIC help to bring in revenue regularly.
3. Spotify
Originally a Swedish company, Spotify now has headquarters in multiple areas across the globe including New York City. While its CEO and founder holds a large percentage of the company, Chinese investorTencent Holdings Limited LLCbought 10% of the company back in 2017 while Spotify bought 10% of Tencent’s holdings.
At the time, Spotify wasn’t strong enough to make it in the Chinese market and needed some help to break in. This isn’t the only time that Tencent will be featured on this list–they can spot a successful venture from miles away.
4. Snapchat
Snapchat’s founders never could’ve estimated the level of long-term success that the app would achieve. Just last year, the app counted a total of 187 million active users. Although it was created in 2011, it didn’t go public on the New York Stock Exchange until 2017.
Unsurprisingly, its shares were incredibly popular–the company sold over 200 million shares at $17 and sold the rest to investors.
Although rival company Facebook offered to buy Snapchat for $4 billion, they opted out. Instead, Tencent Holdings bought a large share of yet another tech giant. The Chinese Investor owns about 14% of Snapchat’s shares.
5. Hilton Hotels
Since 1919, Hilton has become a household name throughout the U.S. and other countries. In 2016, HNA Group, Chinese aviation and shipping giant, bought a 25% stake for $6.5 billion. This acquisition put two Chinese directors on Hilton’s Board of 10.
HNA has been trying to sell its share for the past two years with no success.
6. General Electric Appliance Division
General Electric covers a wide range of industries and their appliance division is manufactured in the USA with global parts (and with domestic parts whenever possible). However, in 2016, Chinese investor Haier bought the company’s appliance division for $5.4 billion.
While all products are still made in America, the ideas are generated in China. It’s quite different from other American brands because GE has been around since 1892.
While investors don’t necessarily affect where a product is made, in many cases, they have a large influence in how a business is run and marketed. It’s dangerous when any large American brand is partially owned by Chinese or other foreign investors because they have greater responsibilities in their homeland. In the case of AMC, the Chinese investors are unlikely to help out during Covid due to domestic obligations.
49 Comments
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Deborah Johnson
12:44 pm on January 13, 2021
Thank you for this article as I am committed to products Made in America vs supporting the Chinese. Especially now with the current state of our country.
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JerryB
8:50 am on April 25, 2021
Needless to say…..stay away from Christmas Tree Shops, as well as T J Max …be (selective) when you buy….it’s not that hard, & come away with a good feeling that you took away a little something from the commies that they would likely use for their military!! Every little bit helps! Educate others!!
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Dj
12:24 am on May 17, 2021
Why tj max and what is Christmas tree shops?
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JerryB
5:17 am on August 1, 2022
Because TJ Maxx in Christmas tree shops sell nothing but Chinese made goods!
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Marshall Currie
10:04 am on August 3, 2021
How do you ” educate ” when indoctrinate is where we have wound up ?
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9:41 am on April 30, 2021
If you don’t buy made in China. You don’t buy.
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12:36 pm on August 2, 2021
americans cannot afford to pay for goods and services that would be made in america.. business owners like myself cannot afford to pay american workers the money required to live. Americans are gluttonous and wasteful. They require more money because they spend more money and have tons of debt…
The state of our economy is due to a combination of a Tyrannical govt, The ignorance of the masses as the lying for profit media. USA is 30 Trillion in debt and it is owed to US!! the citizens. The govt borrowed our Social security money ( Trillions ) and are now killing the very same people they are indebted to.
Believe, dont believe, doesn’t matter to me anymore. Half the country is ignorant and full of ego… They won’t be around much longer.. fooled into taking a death jab that is experimental, non FDA approved, and never tested on humans before….well until now… Humans are the test.
99.8% chance u survive without a vaksine…
Open them eyes folks.. this is genocide and democide..
I don’t expect most of you to believe what im saying.. look for yourselves..Pharmaceutical companies are exempt from lawsuit per 1986 law.. You have 100% risk
Govt doesnt give a sh*t about any of us.. if they did, they wouldnt let people starve to death, to go homeless, and die from lack of insurance.
Never to you put on the idiot box and hear ” You should not worry, you have a 99.8% chance of surviving.. go outside, get sunshine, exercise, eat right, hug your friends and family………NOPE! none of that ever..
Keep believing the for profit lying media.. I assure you, before the end of the year, many of you will see whats really going on.. .And it’s going to require lots of sickness and lots of death, to your friends and family ,and even yourselves..
Truth just is, regardless of your opinions
Wish you luckReply
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6:05 pm on January 19, 2021
I would like to find a way to quickly find out if a product is entirely made in America other than reading the label because that is not always entirely true. I don’t want to buy ANYTHING that has any connections to communist china, period! For instance, the Fire Marshall told me, when my friends condo caught fire from a faulty power strip running her aquarium that though it was stamped USA it was not, they forge the stamps like the UL inspected and made in USA.I think Belkin power strips are (and expensive) It is difficult to find things only made here. Also the products that are made here usually cost a lot more. I would rather buy all and only made in America but do buy some things made elsewhere, just not china. For instance; list of cars entirely made here or in friendly allied countries partly. or appliances , the same. at least the larger, more expensive items. I also want to mention the Heinz company is bad. The products are often made by child labor!
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I only want to buy in america made oroducts too. No china for me. Patriots Trump 2020 Best president ever.
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Marsha
12:04 pm on July 15, 2021
FYI Many Independents and Biden supporters also want to avoid buying from Chinese companies. We need to work together on this
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Robert Anderson
7:32 am on March 10, 2021
Very few products are 100% made in America. Even the US laws are written so that a product can have the vaunted ‘Made in the USA’ label so long as at least 78% of the product is sourced in the US. Virtually every product that uses electronics has at least some Chinese, Japanese, German or other components. Then you have the issue where US-based companies are owned by companies located in other countries. General Electric is a prime example as they are owned by a Chinese company.
Belkin products are actually made in China. And Kraft Heinz does NOT use child labor. They do not explicitly define in corporate documentation that such labor is outlawed, but there is absolutely zero proof anywhere on the planet that they use such labor. The closest they come to child labor is the remote possibility that suppliers might – MIGHT – use child labor.Reply
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Jay Ram
4:29 pm on July 21, 2021
I beg to differ lady. When you have the likes of GREENPEACE
getting involved, then you know its bad. Care to retract your last statement?
https://www.tropicalconservationfund.org/palmoilkraftheinz.html https://www.foodprocessing.com/industrynews/2020/cocoa-farms-using-more-child-labor/ http://ourownbackyard.org/pdfs/Part%201K-Secret%20Child%20Labor%20in%20America.pdf https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-14-mn-63852-story.html Article after article even our own government to back my claims, what do you have to back yours?Reply
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12:40 pm on August 2, 2021
yep! usa is very lax regarding labelling. I was in Home depot years ago and asked a mgr what percentage of products were made in america vs other countries.. I showed him different products that claimed ” Made in america” or “assembled in america” There are no shortcuts.. if you want a quality product, you pay for it.. Chinese sh*t is less money because the chinese people are forced to work for peanuts… if you want sh*t made in usa, you have to pay a fortune for it.
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10:05 pm on March 15, 2021
I wholeheartedly agree with you. Stay vigilant!
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6:59 pm on March 20, 2021
AMEN
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M Bulivou
9:51 am on May 18, 2021
Its is very important for us to know, the system will never change just like that, remember the story of a Camel inside your Tent.
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Barbara L. Latham
10:02 am on January 29, 2021
I too am fed up with products made in China. I recently bought a GE washer and dryer. They are both crap. I tried to return them to Home Depot but was told that I had 48 hours to return them. I told them I had them only a month, but no dice. I wrote to the CEO of Ge, no answer yet. Biden will take care of things for good. He’s in bed with the Chinese and he’s gonna do whatever they want.
Good bye to American made products. Did you know that the Chinese now own Springfield Foods, the largest pork producers and processors in the world. And American cititzens will now be working for the Chinese. The Chinese are mining for coal in the mountains of Tennn. Guizhan Gwochuuang Energy Holding group spent 616 million to acquire Triple H Coal Co. in Jacksboro, Tenn. And there are many more. The Chinese acquisition of US and Canadian businesses set a new all time record last year.Reply
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Violet Smith
4:14 pm on July 8, 2021
Don’t blame China, blame American Companies for not making things out of materials that will last. “This is why we can’t have nice things”[https://youtu.be/j5v8D-alAKE] “Faulty appliances: Repairmen reveal industry secrets” (CBC Marketplace)[https://youtu.be/hk2TfF1M4r8]
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4:54 pm on August 1, 2021
Well, then maybe you should trump for that. FYI, Biden wasn’t in the White House last year. Do your research before you spew your nonsense!
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2:32 pm on August 3, 2021
ITS Smithfield foods, not Springfield! and they smithfield foods own 17 other large american companies, .Iknow 62 large american companies that are owned by China, plus China is buying all the farmland they can get their hands on! they are are buying AMERICA!
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8:25 am on March 3, 2021
I agree with miss Lane. If we are going to keep America great we need to support all American made products. Do your research, they do exists. I am retired general motors employee and recently purchased a Honda CRV. I know most of the money goes back to Japan but the auto is made in America by American workers. Unlike most of GM cars. Why would I want to remain loyal to a company I worked for when they shift all there work overseas? I try very hard to not bye anything made by a communist country, especially China.
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2:30 pm on April 26, 2021
The profits are send overseas not kept here! That why u shouldnt buy anything but american. Also non-union.
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Sent. Not send. Shouldn’t. In American, the A should be uppercase.
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Sue
4:52 pm on June 23, 2021
“Why would I want to remain loyal to a company I worked for when they shift all there work overseas?” exactly! It was the greedy US companies that moved to China, not the other way around! The US company CEOs have never cared about their US workers. CEOs just want to make more and more money for themselves. They get richer and richer and US workers get poorer and poorer. Don’t blame China for stealing the US jobs, blame US companies which are the sources of the US workers suffering
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4:57 pm on August 1, 2021
AMEN SUE!
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Tony
4:36 pm on March 5, 2021
I agree, another company will always be loyal to there culture and native country. These are business deals only. In the 90s GM became reliant on China to make profit since otherwise they may go under. Look how many brands they cut. AMC entertainment on the other hand relies on ticket sales and seats in theaters. This was evident during the pandemic shutdown. Since our markets and economies are more globally connected we can no longer just look at the markets in one perspective now. The novice to dull time investor needs to more educated saavy.
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Nancy Barnes
5:32 pm on March 12, 2021
I agree wholeheartedly with you!! I always watch for “assembled in the USA.” It’s really aggravating. I have been contacting companies and asking them point blank where the item is made. Recently, I had trouble getting an item shipped as promised. I called them and the girl offered me a 20% discount if I wouldn’t cancel the order, so I asked her where the item was coming from. When she told me Hong Kong, I immediately canceled the order and told her I want NOTHING from China. Still watching for the refund on my credit card.
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Joan zahn
10:20 pm on March 14, 2021
I guess nothing is really made in America anymore this is a shame
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4:10 pm on March 18, 2021
I don’t think there is a damn thing as a whole in this country that’s made either in China or some other country it’s a shame how the politicians sold this country out the men and women who fought for this country that died in combat are turning over in there graves I feel for them and their families I know I was almost one of them
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Max Ackerman
1:03 am on March 21, 2021
Lol at all the previous comments. Seem like they were written by a couple of old farts. Crazy how people don’t realize you get what you pay for. To put it simply the less you pay the cheaper the quality. Its funny to say you don’t want things “Made in China” but yet using a Iphone lol.
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Laura
7:08 pm on April 25, 2021
Yeah, I don’t think it’s completely possible to avoid things made in China. I use an iPhone and always will…don’t like Androids. But I will still avoid getting cheap crap that are made in China when possible. I’m not an “old fart,” but I do hate China and what they stand for. Now especially more than ever after they (and others) put the entire world in jeopardy. A year later, the world is still suffering because of their negligence.
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2:15 pm on March 21, 2021
Ask your polotitions why did are government allow american companies to leave america go to a communist country ,after we faught two wars in two different countries ,close to 200,000 americans dead fighting communism. but now today 3.7 million manufacturing american jobs are in communist china ,really why?, both parties have excepted this bull sh*t ideology, and one party doesn’t agree one another they call each other Communist sappoters, what? Really
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3:53 pm on May 8, 2021
Really? People still think china is a communist country and makes cheap low quality goods. People are afraid that if China is successful then it disapproves the theory that communist party will fail. The country hasnt failed last decades. The fact is that it gets better and stronger. Why not revisit the theory? Stop demonizeing other country. Think about how to make american truly great again while other countries also are great.
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6:03 pm on August 1, 2021
Amy, you said it all right there!
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1:29 am on June 27, 2021
Its the owners of these businesses not the governments. Remember your American business owners make the decision to be there and they have freedoms like you and I even if there different and conflict with yours. Many American companies are owned by foreign investors as well. Money talks.
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1:45 am on June 27, 2021
You voted for this folks are at least those old enough did. In the sixties and seventies when companies wanted in on the Asian economies they still were making things in America. Since economically it made a lot of sense and cents to produce in Asia more companies followed and more Americans voted with their dollars spent and bought these goods vs American made goods. In the eighties and into the nineties companies made the decision to move there primary production to places like China. Remember there was a big push to get American companies into these places, so you look awfully foolish when you profit from something you cry about.
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Jim
9:13 pm on March 24, 2021
Milwaukee tools is another. I only buy DeWalt, Stanley, Black & Decker and Dremel.
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2:12 pm on April 28, 2021
No more Nathan Franks for this family.
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John S
6:41 pm on May 3, 2021
You’ve been brainwashed – at least Biden had a son who served in the military while Trump’s kids produced a granddaughter who sings in Mandarin. How do you respond to that? https://youtu.be/TjfHwp8Nyuk
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Jake P
9:23 am on May 6, 2021
Ruger…American owned America made.
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China china
11:20 pm on June 26, 2021
Fyi: most of the raw materials are from China, too. You need to live on the street, be naked, live on just air if you don’t want to benefits China. Give me a break
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1:19 am on June 27, 2021
More than 50% of American assets are owned by foreign investors. Americans use to be the largest lending nation. We are the largest debtor nation. This has happened gradually since post WWII but Americans in the baby boomer generation accelerated this phenomenon. We tried selling those in the world like the Chinese the idea of free market capitalism. Well they bought in and now we cry. We are not very good at owning our own choices. It seems we are more satisfied with soap operetic ideas we cause and then crying and running away from them. Own your own America, before you sell all you have to others. China has a billion people there and American companies try to to get the biggest slice of that they can. Americans that do own or at least get a vote on how a company decides to progress their business are to blame and just the game of Capitalism is to blame.
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7:05 pm on July 11, 2021
I read every comment on this thread and the reason America is failing is bc 99% of the population CAN’T SPELL, CAN’T COMPLETE WHOLE SENTENCES, DO NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEIR, THEY’RE, THERE, or how about something simple? NO AND KNOW??!! DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT PUNCTUATION GOES WHERE???? No. We have spellcheck on everything FOR US AND MOST STILL GET IT WRONG!!! Embarrassing!!
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Beth
8:19 pm on July 18, 2021
You are so right!!
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5:51 am on July 22, 2021
China produces 3 Times STEM Graduates than the USA
China is away head in producing EV than the USA
China INVEST STRATEGICALLY IN US Companies ( Waldorf Astoria, Legendary Entertainment , AMC , GE )
China will be the biggest Economic Superpower in 2030Reply
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Betty
8:21 am on July 27, 2021
If this trend goes on the way it is now, China will take over USA as the world’s superpower. It is only a matter of time.
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C S Smith
2:58 pm on July 31, 2021
May I speak from my heart…I used to be so angry about so much growing up during the 70’s in the aftermath of Vietnam, the assinations of John and Robert Kennedy & Martin LutherKing, while at the same time watching my generation struggling to find peace, a moral compass to hold onto or just a doorway to a great escape from all the disenchanted ideoligies that just didn’t seem to hold much together. I went to Catholic school, & struggled w my faith, my family and even with who I was as a young woman, who desired a greater sense of a wholesome Americana that seemed to be rapidly fading away but also loved the spiritual freedoms being expressed during that time. In time, now at 63, I see where it’s easier to look back and criticize, find fault and condemn. I don’t want to do that. I think and ponder much. I pray and ask God, who knows all, “We need your help getting us back on track. We’re in a mess. We’ve let ourselves down, our parents down, our place as a ‘Shining light on a hill’ diminish. The American Revolution was about a virtuous rebelling against against tyranny and centuries of monarchies. The Southern rebellion was about sedition and the desire to maintain a culture of aristocratic position, influence & dominance over others, including poor whites. Education of all children in the south was never formally instituted from the beginning like it was in the north. Only children from aristocratic families had turtors. Blacks and poor whites were in the fields; no need for education was the general thinking. Then a moral rebellion in the late 50s and 60s took hold with American youth’s infatuation with the James Dean idol worship of sexy but indifferent, ‘come on’. The generation gap resulted from parents who grew up during WWWII w all its fears, sacrifices and having to fight a real evil across 2 oceans, while trying to maintain a sense of family values and goodness at home. Civil rights offenses, activists and horrifics of war have strained the fabric of our diverse people for years, yet the economic machinery has been able to produce distractions of pleasure, appeasem*nt and personal satisfaction until all shut down during Covid. Suddenly finding and buying masks, hand sanitizer & toilet paper shot to the top of the list for priorities on a global scale. Wow! Clean hands, clean mouths and clean butts! Kinda makes you wonder…oh yes, our environment needs a bit of cleaning up too! What if God was putting all of us into a ‘time out’? Maybe like spoiled children we’re getting a supernatural divine “You have gone too far, and you’re all in time out to clean up your act, clean up your lives, your mouths, your attitudes, the way you behave and treat one another and you don’t get the peace you want without expressing some kind of remorse for your own contribution to the greed, dishonesty, disobedience to parents and authority, selfishness, and reckless behavior and lifestyles that have brought this universe into a great imbalance. Maybe God would hear our sincere contritions and help us. Our hearts have grown hardened between the devisiveness of political, religious and social discontents. Like complaining orphans, have we forgotten that all that is good about America is founded in goodness and in the wellbeing of one another, goodwill, virtue, integrity and honor. Our Marines, Navy, Air Force and other front line Americans abide by these ethics, why aren’t the rest of us? What gives us the right to be any less than they who wear a uniform? Are they on the lines with their lives so the rest of us can be less in character and then call it freedom? I shake my head and wonder. I served in the Air Force. I’m a mother of 4, grandmother of 3. I got a degree soon after going through a painful divorce and reconciled over the years with my family, the Church and myself. Let love be the passion that directs and burns forth the true light of Freedom and Democracy, not hate, divisiveness, mistrust and fear of one another. Amen.
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Irene
3:36 am on August 3, 2021
I was trying to cite this in my paper, but after digging more information, it turns out that China sold its shares for AMC since 2018, and they no longer own GM. Do a bit of fact checking please.
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