US Department of Transportation Warns Ford Over Partnerships with Chinese Firms Amid Rising Trade Tensions

Ford stocks tumbled on Tuesday by more than 4 percent. The United States Department of Transportation has sent a letter to Ford Motor Company raising concerns about the carmaker’s partnerships with Chinese firms during ongoing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

In the letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that Ford’s partnership with China’s CATL, a battery maker, as well as car companies Geely and BYD, poses national security concerns. The letter was made public on Tuesday but sent late last week.

Duffy questioned Ford’s partnership with CATL at its Marshall, Michigan, plant, where it produces lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cells. “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,” the letter stated.

CATL is one of the companies the US Department of Defense banned in January 2025, before President Donald Trump took office. Duffy claimed that the carmaker’s joint venture with Geely in Spain “helps strategic adversaries secure a vital foothold in Western markets”.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) also questioned Ford’s talks with China’s BYD on hybrid vehicle parts, saying it “could lead to further embedding subsidized foreign technology into Ford’s core supply chains”. Ford had planned to move Lincoln Nautilus production to the US from China by 2030. That, however, would not suffice, according to Duffy, who said that the decision “leaves an unacceptable, multi-year window of reliance on Chinese manufacturing”.

“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. Attempting to navigate current circumstances in ways that could enrich those very competitors is not a sustainable strategy for the United States,” the letter added. Ford’s stock fell 4.2 percent on Tuesday following the release of the letter, and the company has not yet responded to requests for comment.