Ford Motor Company faced backlash this week for moving forward with a project to collaborate with a Chinese company to build batteries in Michigan for the automaker’s electric vehicles.
The news comes as the struggling auto brand lost billions of dollars last year under the leadership of CEO Jim Farley in part because of bad investments and poor vehicle quality which has led to expensive recalls, according to a report from The New York Times.
Ford’s deal with the Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. comes after Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin removed his state from a plan to attract the automaker specifically because of its connection to the Chinese company.
“I look forward to bringing a great company there,” Youngkin, a highly successful businessman, said in an interview last month. “It won’t be one that uses kind of a Trojan-horse relationship with the Chinese Communist Party in order to gain.”
Ford’s plan is to collaborate with Contemporary Amperex Technology on the $3.5 billion battery plant that is expected to open in 2026 and employ a few thousand people. The company will try to save money by making batteries out of less expensive materials.
The news generated criticism and threats of congressional investigations into the company over its relationship to communist China.
“Woke companies that lecture Americans about the equity agenda are always, without fail, in bed with the Chinese communists,” tweeted political strategist Arthur Schwartz. “@Ford to move forward with $3.5 billion EV battery plant with Chinese partner.”
A source close to House Republican leadership told The Daily Wire: “The closer Ford gets to the Chinese communists the closer we’re going to look at their business.”
“We’re quickly approaching the point where Ford’s business practices are becoming a national security threat,” the source added.
A Michigan Republican strategist signaled that Republican lawmakers in the state need to be prepared to deny Ford tax incentives because of the negative impact that doing business with communist China will bring to the state.
“Ford is seeking close to a billion dollars in tax incentives from the State of Michigan,” the strategist said. “That’s a billion dollars that will directly benefit the Chinese Communist Party. Republican lawmakers in Michigan should understand that this is an issue that will get national attention.”
The news comes after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina after sailing across the U.S., including near sensitive U.S. military installations.
The threat that communist China poses to the U.S. is so great that even top Democrat lawmakers, like Sen. Micheal Bennett (D-CO), are pushing for companies like TikTok to be banned because of China’s ability to use it to spy on Americans and to shape public opinion. The U.S. has already taken action against Chinese tech giant Huawei and continues to do so because of the extreme risk the company poses to national security.