US officials criticise Ford\u2019s partnerships with Chinese firms CATL, Geely and BYD over security risks.<\/p>\n
The United States Department of Transportation has sent a letter to Ford Motor Company raising concerns about the carmaker\u2019s partnerships with Chinese firms during ongoing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.<\/p>\n
In the letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that Ford\u2019s partnerships with the Chinese battery-maker CATL and the car companies Geely and BYD pose national security concerns. The letter was made public on Tuesday but was sent late last week.<\/p>\n
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Duffy questioned Ford\u2019s partnership with CATL at its Marshall, Michigan, plant, where it produces lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cells.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prioritization of imported Chinese technical expertise and operational know-how-even in a scaled-back capacity-challenges the spirit of American national and economic security and supply-chain independence policies,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n
CATL is one of the companies the US Department of Defense banned in January 2025, before President Donald Trump took office.<\/p>\n
Duffy claimed that the carmaker\u2019s joint venture with Geely in Spain \u201chelps strategic adversaries secure a vital foothold in Western markets\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Department of Transportation (DOT) also questioned Ford\u2019s talks with China\u2019s BYD on hybrid vehicle parts, saying it \u201ccould lead to further embedding subsidized foreign technology into Ford\u2019s core supply chains\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ford had planned to move Lincoln Nautilus production to the US from China by 2030.<\/p>\n
That, however, would not suffice, according to Duffy, who said that the decision \u201cleaves an unacceptable, multi-year window of reliance on Chinese manufacturing\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a company intentionally chooses to deepen operational dependencies on strategic competitors, it fails to act as the reliable partner the American public and this DOT require. Attempting to navigate current circumstances in ways that could enrich those very competitors is not a sustainable strategy for the United States,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n
In a statement to Al Jazeera, Ford refuted many of the Trump administration\u2019s claims, emphasising that it working with American workers on American soil to produce its automobile parts.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecretary Duffy\u2019s letter is a wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines at the expense of a company that has done more for American manufacturing than virtually any other in the nation\u2019s history,\u201d Ford\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile our crosstown rivals and foreign-based competitors increasingly rely on importing foreign-made vehicles from Japan, Mexico and Korea, Ford is doubling down on America.\u201d<\/p>\n
It went on to describe its partnership with CATL as a \u201climited technology-licensing and services agreement, not a joint venture or foreign-owned manufacturing operation\u201d.<\/p>\n
It also denied that the Marshall battery factory posed any threat to the US automobile industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cFord owns the plant, controls the operation and employs the workforce,\u201d the statement said, saying the plant represents \u201c1,700 new American jobs\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFord supports the Trump administration\u2019s vision for advancing American innovation and manufacturing. Had Secretary Duffy reached out before issuing his letter to the press, we would have been happy to share more details about Ford\u2019s U.S. commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford\u2019s stock fell 4.2 percent on Tuesday after the letter. The company has not responded to Al Jazeera\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US officials criticise Ford\u2019s partnerships with Chinese firms CATL, Geely and BYD over security risks. The United States…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1685,45,1686,49,48,1376,46,44,714,772,1690],"class_list":["post-888568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-automotive-industry","tag-business","tag-business-and-economy","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}