are probing billion-dollar U.S. automaker Ford Motor Company over its partnership with Chinese battery firm Contemporary Amperex Technology ., and Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Chair Morgan Griffith, R-Va. — expressed concern in a letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley on Friday that the company's recent deal with CATL may pose a national security risk.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is pictured during a hearing on March 23.to build a lithium iron phosphate battery plant — to supply its growing electric vehicle manufacturing — in Marshall, Michigan, creating 2,500 new jobs. As part of the announcement, the U.S. automaker said it had reached an agreement with CATL to manufacture the battery cells at the plant using services provided by the Chinese company.
Although it is not state-owned, Chinese investors tied to the CCP have held financial stakes in CATL, according to a New York Times review. The Chinese government has also taken strategic steps over the last decade to bolster CATL and other electric vehicle industry companies based in China.