On July 24, the world’s largest battery manufacturer CATL said the joint factory project with Ford is progressing as usual. In February of this year, Ford announced its $3.5 billion investment to construct a battery plant in Michigan using CATL’s technology. On July 21, two US House of Representatives committees said they were investigating Ford’s collaboration with the Chinese company. Jason Smith and Mike Gallagher, Republican chairs of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Select Committee on China, raised concerns about the deal and demanded answers from Ford in a joint letter. The House letter stated, “We are concerned that the deal could simply facilitate the partial onshoring of PRC-controlled battery technology, raw materials, and employees while collecting tax credits and flowing funds back to CATL through the licensing agreement.” In response, Ford asserted, “We will own and run this plant in the United States, instead of building a battery plant elsewhere or exclusively importing LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries from China as our competitors do.” [Reuters]
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