The Transportation Secretary Tells Ford It Is "Actively Intertwining Its Future With Chinese State-Backed Enterprises" — Three Weeks After the Commerce Secretary Said "Ford Is Going to Rock Us" by Bringing Manufacturing Home — and Ford Calls the Letter "a Wrongheaded Attempt to Capture Headlines"

September 8, 2026

On September 8, 2026, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent Ford CEO Jim Farley a letter expressing "the profound concern of the U.S. Department of Transportation" about "the strategic trajectory of Ford Motor Company," and released it to the press. The letter cited Ford's licensing of battery technology from China's CATL — a company on the Pentagon's list of Chinese military-linked firms — at its BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, Michigan; its arrangement letting Chinese automaker Geely build vehicles at Ford's plant in Valencia, Spain; reported talks with BYD over hybrid components; and Ford's decision to keep building the Lincoln Nautilus in China until 2030. Ford's choices, Duffy wrote, "paint a troubling picture of a foundational American brand actively intertwining its future with Chinese state-backed enterprises," and a company that "intentionally chooses to deepen operational dependencies on strategic competitors" fails "to act as the reliable partner the American public and this DOT require." Ford answered the same day with unusual bluntness for a company dealing with its regulator. It called the letter "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," said it contained "factual errors," described the CATL deal as "a limited technology-licensing and services agreement, not a joint venture or foreign-owned manufacturing operation" under which "Ford owns the plant, controls the operation and employs the workforce," and noted that "Had Secretary Duffy reached out before issuing his letter to the press, we would have been happy to share more details." Ford also pointed out that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had praised the Nautilus decision on August 13, telling Fox Business after a joint interview with Farley that "Ford is going to rock us with bringing manufacturing back to America." On September 9, congressional Republicans lined up behind Duffy. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) thanked him for "sounding the alarm about Ford's risky ties to CCP companies," and Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), chairman of the House Select Committee on China — who in July had said Ford was "actively helping the Chinese Communist Party" by hosting Geely in Spain — said "Ford should work with our nation's allies, not our adversaries." Michigan's Democratic delegation had not weighed in as of the evening of September 9.