Ford Fights Charge It’s Selling Out to Chinese Manufacturers While Ignoring ‘National Security Concerns’

The venerable Ford Motor Co. is at severe odds with Washington over its close ties with China in the run-up to President Trump’s summit this month with China’s President Xi Jinping. At heart is whether America’s oldest carmaker is relying on Chinese manufacturers rather than producing vehicles entirely on its own or buying components from American suppliers.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has advised Ford CEO Jim Farley of “national security concerns” in a sharply worded warning against the company’s “embrace of Chinese technology and manufacturing.”Mr. Duffy in his letter to Mr. Farley writes that “skilled American workers” are suffering “as Ford continues to manufacture vehicles with Chinese companies abroad instead of building in America.”The issue has erupted into a battle between Ford and the administration in which the company strongly defends its dealings with China while Mr. Trump calls for building up America’s manufacturing base. America’s yawning trade deficit with China, and its dependence on Chinese manufacturers, looms as an overwhelming issue when Mr. Trump hosts Mr. Xi at the White House on September 24.Ford called Mr. Duffy’s letter “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.”Mr. Duffy in his letter accused Ford, a flagship company that epitomized America’s rise in the last century as the world’s greatest manufacturing power, of acting against America’s best interests. “Iconic American companies, like Ford,” he said, are “expected to out-innovate competitors” and “chart clear paths to technological self-reliance.”With other unnamed companies clearly in mind, Mr. Duffy wrote, “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.”The letter, according to the Department of Transportation, ticked off a list of cases in which Ford had acted in China’s, not America’s, best interests.At the top of the list was “Ford’s continued use of licensed technology from Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) at its BlueOval Battery Park facility in Marshall, Michigan” even though CATL is among the Department of War’s “banned companies.”Next came “Ford and Chinese automotive company Geely Auto’s new partnership to jointly manufacture low and zero-emission vehicles at Ford’s Valencia, Spain, factory.” Also, there was “Ford’s decision to delay reshoring of some Lincoln models until 2030 which leaves the company reliant on China for several years to come.”Ford shot back with an impassioned defense of what it’s doing.Ford spokesperson Mark Truby underscored that Ford remains committed to the U.S. market and manufacturing. Indeed, he argued, “the partnership with CATL is limited” and “the White House praised Ford for the Marshall project last week.”Ford also charged Mr. Duffy with “factual errors,” insisting it had not “proposed a joint-venture framework as described in the letter.”The exchange “marks the latest friction between the American motor vehicle industry and the Trump administration,” the industry blog AutoGuide reports, generating “uncertainty through shifting trade policy and changes to federal rules and regulations.“The dispute hits Ford at a difficult time. The company falls well behind Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Stellantis, and American rival GM with 4.42 percent of global sales. China’s Geely “is nipping at the Blue Oval’s heels with a global market share of 4.38 percent,” according to Ford Authority, an independent blog.In fact, Ford has also expressed strong misgivings about China’s state-supported rise in the American motor vehicle market. Mr. Farley and other executives have raised concerns “about the competitive threat and have urged policymakers to keep Chinese carmakers out of the United States,” the Detroit News reported. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation has “urged Congress to ban such vehicles from the U.S. market by the end of the year.”

Ford Fights Charge It’s Selling Out to Chinese Manufacturers While Ignoring ‘National Security Concerns’

Ford Fights Charge It’s Selling Out to Chinese Manufacturers While Ignoring ‘National Security Concerns’

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