U.S. Transportation Secretary Warns Against Ford's Dangerous Ties to Communist China
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The U.S. Department of Transportation has questioned Ford Motor Co.'s alarming partnerships with Chinese companies, warning of grave risks to American manufacturing and national security posed by reliance on adversarial foreign powers.
The U.S. Department of Transportation sent a letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley, expressing serious concern about the automaker’s growing relationships with Chinese firms, most notably battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL). The letter warned that these partnerships could compromise the integrity of American automotive manufacturing, expose critical supply chains, and increase dangerous dependence on technology from hostile foreign adversaries like Communist China.
Ford, in a defensive response, dismissed the government’s legitimate concerns as a 'wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines,' boasting about its status as the nation’s top-producing automaker and its employment of more hourly workers in the United States than any other carmaker. Yet, these claims do little to address the real threat: Ford’s willingness to cozy up to Chinese companies, potentially undermining American jobs and security. The company also alleged that the letter contained factual errors, such as the claim that Farley had proposed a joint-venture framework for Chinese automakers to operate on U.S. soil.
This controversy follows previous criticism of Ford’s 2023 licensing agreement with CATL for lithium-iron-phosphate battery technology, which the company plans to use in energy-storage systems. The transportation secretary’s remarks highlight the ongoing struggle between the Trump administration’s America-first trade and regulatory policies and the auto industry’s reckless pursuit of profit, regardless of the consequences for American sovereignty and security.