The $3.5 billion deal Ford announced earlier this week to build a battery plant in Marshall, Mich., is being questioned by officials on both sides.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio wants the U.S. to look into the deal because of its connection with a Chinese company. Rubio wants the White House to withhold any federal aid to the project, The Detroit News reported.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin originally declined Ford’s offer to build the plant in his state over those same Chinese ties.
According to the announcement made Monday in Michigan, the plant would be owned by Ford, which will use it to build batteries for the company’s electric vehicles. The problem: the battery cell technology will be licensed to Ford from China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.
In a letter he addressed to the U.S. Departments of Energy, Transportation and Treasury, Rubio asked for a review of the plan for “potential national security risks.”
He also demanded that the project receive no federal funds, notably from the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes billions in federal subsidies for domestic battery manufacturing.
“The exact structure of this arrangement has yet to be reported, but policymakers should be clear-eyed about one takeaway: if Chinese companies like CATL are able to exploit both Chinese and United States incentives for battery and EV technology through clever corporate arrangements, then there is no use in investing federal funds toward industrial development in the first place,” Rubio wrote, according to The News. “Taxpayer dollars should never be used to support PRC (People’s Republic of China) champions.”
“Ford will wholly own and control the new battery facility, which will initially create 2,500 good U.S. jobs, with no foreign investment,” said Ford spokesperson Melissa Miller in response to Rubio’s letter, The News reported. “CATL won’t get any U.S. tax dollars; their involvement is simply as a source of technology and expertise that will be licensed to us.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported Thursday that the Chinese government will be looking closely at the deal with Ford, lest Ford get “undue access to CATL’s technology.
