By Nora Eckert
Sept 9 (Reuters) – Long-simmering tensions between Ford and the Trump administration over the automaker’s connections with Chinese companies boiled over this week in a contradictory flurry of Republican criticism and praise for the company.
The dispute highlighted competing views of how U.S. automakers should respond to China’s growing lead in the auto industry. Ford has argued it needs access to Chinese technology and expertise to remain competitive globally, even as it warns that Chinese automakers threaten the industry and should be kept out of the U.S. market.
On Wednesday, the Republican-controlled House Select Committee on China criticized Ford in a post on X, claiming the company has by turns warned of the threat Chinese companies pose to the U.S. industry, while also partnering with some of them. “This is what Ford says vs. what it does,” the post read.
That came less than 24 hours after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a letter calling Ford’s connections to Chinese companies “troubling.” Ford shot back that the secretary was trying to drum up headlines.
The administration, though, had praise for Ford’s moves. The White House said on X on Wednesday that Ford was a “great American company” that had invested in U.S. production. And U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick just weeks ago lauded some of the very moves Duffy criticized in his letter.
A Ford spokesman said on Wednesday: “This whole situation is very puzzling. We have such a good and productive dialogue with the administration, and this letter came out of left field.”
The mixed messages reflect a broader debate. President Donald Trump has made protecting U.S. industries from Chinese competition and rebuilding domestic manufacturing central priorities, but administration officials have signaled differences over where collaboration with Chinese companies crosses the line.
FORD CEO OUTSPOKEN ON CHINA
Ford CEO Jim Farley for years has been among the most vocal auto executives in warning of the threat posed by China’s fast-rising automakers. The company has lobbied Congress to restrict Chinese automakers’ access to the U.S. market, arguing that government support provides them a significant cost advantage.
The Ford chief in media interviews has noted that China has enough factory space to serve all of North America and put U.S. automakers out of business.
While the Ford chief has asked the government to keep China out, he has also praised his rival’s products. A remark he made on an October 2024 podcast about enjoying an electric car from China’s Xiaomi gained much more attention than anticipated, Farley has acknowledged.
At the same time, Ford has explored or struck deals with Chinese firms, drawing the ire of some in the U.S. government.
The first backlash came in 2023, after Ford announced a partnership with Chinese battery giant CATL. Ford said it would use CATL’s technology to make battery cells at a plant in Michigan, which would be owned by Ford and employ American workers.
The chairs of two U.S. House of Representatives committees announced an investigation of the partnership, saying Ford was “exposing itself and U.S. taxpayers to the whims of the Chinese Communist Party.” The automaker was shocked by the intensity of the blowback, according to people familiar with the matter. The Michigan factory began production this year.
In January, the Ford chief approached administration officials at the Detroit Auto Show about the potential for Chinese automakers and U.S. companies to form joint ventures, Duffy said in his letter, which he said would weaken the U.S. auto industry. Ford denied that it proposed such a framework.
In July, Ford announced it would partner with China’s Geely in Europe, including joint development of a new model, which sparked fiery responses from some lawmakers.
“Ford’s decision is incomprehensible as it seeks protection from Chinese automakers coming to the United States,” Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said in July.
Ford at the time responded: “In Europe, the landscape is changing fast and we are competing head-on with the Chinese and every other major global automaker. This new reality is forcing every car company to get radically leaner and smarter.”
MIXED MESSAGING FROM TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Trump and his administration have sent mixed signals about how hawkish they intend to be on Chinese auto companies.
In January, Trump said he was open to Chinese automakers manufacturing vehicles in the U.S. if they employ U.S. workers. “If they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great,” he told the Detroit Economic Club.
Last month, Lutnick praised Ford’s decision to move some Lincoln production from China to the U.S. starting in 2030. But Duffy in his letter this week slammed the move, saying the timeline was unacceptably slow.
Ilaria Mazzocco, deputy director and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the whiplash complicates automakers’ planning for the future.
“There’s a general consensus that the U.S. wants to be less dependent on China, but I don’t think there’s actually a lot of consensus on exactly what that looks like,” she said.
(Reporting by Nora Eckert in Detroit; Editing by Mike Colias and Cynthia Osterman)
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