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US officials criticise Ford’s partnerships with Chinese firms CATL, Geely and BYD over security risks.
The United States Department of Transportation has sent a letter to Ford Motor Company raising concerns about the carmaker’s partnerships with Chinese firms during ongoing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.
In the letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that Ford’s 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.
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Duffy questioned Ford’s partnership with CATL at its Marshall, Michigan, plant, where it produces lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cells.
“The 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,” the letter said.
CATL is one of the companies the US Department of Defense banned in January 2025, before President Donald Trump took office.
Duffy claimed that the carmaker’s joint venture with Geely in Spain “helps strategic adversaries secure a vital foothold in Western markets”.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) also questioned Ford’s talks with China’s BYD on hybrid vehicle parts, saying it “could lead to further embedding subsidized foreign technology into Ford’s core supply chains”.
Ford had planned to move Lincoln Nautilus production to the US from China by 2030.
That, however, would not suffice, according to Duffy, who said that the decision “leaves an unacceptable, multi-year window of reliance on Chinese manufacturing”.
“When 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,” the letter said.
In a statement to Al Jazeera, Ford refuted many of the Trump administration’s claims, emphasising that it working with American workers on American soil to produce its automobile parts.
“Secretary Duffy’s 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’s history,” Ford’s statement said.
“While 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.”
It went on to describe its partnership with CATL as a “limited technology-licensing and services agreement, not a joint venture or foreign-owned manufacturing operation”.
It also denied that the Marshall battery factory posed any threat to the US automobile industry.
“Ford owns the plant, controls the operation and employs the workforce,” the statement said, saying the plant represents “1,700 new American jobs”.
“Ford supports the Trump administration’s 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’s U.S. commitment.”
Ford’s stock fell 4.2 percent on Tuesday after the letter. The company has not responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
