Trump administration criticizes Ford for battery licensing deal with Chinese CATL

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Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy has criticized recent Ford business deals.

Duffy criticized Ford’s battery licensing deal with Chinese giant CATL.

Ford says the Trump administration is simply trying to capture headlines.

The Trump administration isn’t pleased with Ford’s close ties to certain Chinese companies, prompting a fierce rebuke from Ford, which continues to tout itself as “the most American automaker.” The tit-for-tat comes just before a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.

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In a letter to Ford chief executive Jim Farley dated September 3 and recently made public, Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy expressed “profound concern” about the “strategic trajectory of Ford,” claiming the historic brand is “actively intertwining its future with Chinese state-backed enterprises.”

Read: Ford Is Partnering With The Chinese Automakers It’s Fighting To Keep Out Of America

Ford’s relationship with Chinese battery manufacturer CATL appears to have rubbed the Trump administration the wrong way. The licensing deal, first signed in 2023, would have allowed Ford to manufacture EV batteries using CATL’s chemistry. Still, a recent decline in demand for EVs in the US prompted Ford to start assembling lithium-iron phosphate cells using CATL tech for energy storage systems.

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“The prioritization of imported Chinese technical expertise and operational know-how – even in a scaled-back capacity – challenges the spirit of American national and economic security and supply-chain independence policies,” Duffy wrote.

The transportation secretary also took issue with Ford’s recent deal with Geely in Spain , saying it “helps strategic adversaries secure a vital foothold in Western markets.” The letter also addressed ongoing talks between Ford and BYD to share hybrid vehicle components.

“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,” Duffy added.

Ford Responds

It didn’t take long for Ford to respond. The company described Duffy’s letter as “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.”

“BlueOval Battery Park Michigan in Marshall is a Ford-owned and Ford-operated facility representing billions of dollars in investment and approximately 1,700 new American jobs,” Ford’s statement reads, noting “it is producing batteries in Michigan, with American workers, for Ford vehicles also built in America.”

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Ford BlueOval Battery Park

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