Ford under fire from GOP, Trump administration over China ties

Ford is facing mounting heat from the Trump administration and congressional Republicans over accusations that the Detroit automaker is tying its future too closely to Chinese companies — including through battery technology, manufacturing partnerships and potential supply deals.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has zeroed in on Ford’s reliance on technology licensed from Chinese battery giant CATL at its Michigan battery factory, its planned joint venture with Chinese automaker Geely in Spain and reported talks with BYD over batteries for hybrid vehicles.Duffy also accused Ford CEO Jim Farley of pitching administration officials on a framework that could facilitate Chinese automakers setting up US manufacturing through American-controlled joint ventures — an assertion Ford has flatly disputed.The criticism escalated Wednesday when Sen.Rick Scott (R-Fla.) praised Duffy for “sounding the alarm about Ford’s risky ties to [Chinese Communist Party] companies,” according to Reuters.The House Select Committee on China likewise took aim at Ford, posting company statements alongside reports about its Chinese business relationships under the heading: “This is what Ford says vs.

what it does.”Duffy outlined his concerns in a Tuesday letter to Farley, saying Ford’s decisions raised “profound concern” about its manufacturing, supply chain and reliance on technology from China.At the center of the fight is Ford’s BlueOval Battery Park Michigan in Marshall, where Ford manufactures lithium-iron phosphate batteries using technology licensed from CATL.CATL has been placed on the Pentagon’s Section 1260H list of companies accused of ties to China’s military — adding to longstanding scrutiny in Washington of Ford’s arrangement with the battery giant.Ford insists the structure is being mischaracterized.“The CATL arrangement is a limited technology-licensing and services agreement, not a joint venture or foreign-owned manufacturing operation,” Ford...