Days after Ford Motor Company and Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) announced a new $3.5 billion battery production plant in Marshall, Michigan, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has asked the Biden administration to take a closer look at the agreement due to concerns of Chinese Community Party (CCP) influence.
Rubio said the deal, via his official website, “will only deepen US reliance on the CCP for battery tech, and is likely designed to make the factory eligible for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits.”
The senior Florida senator, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, also wrote to the secretaries of the Treasury, Energy, and Transportation to request a Committee on Foreign Investment in the US review on the agreement between Ford and CATL. Rubio’s concerns are not without merit.