The set-up for President Joe Biden’s visit to the Ford Motor Co. Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn in May 2021 included electric vehicle charging stations, classic trucks, and the electric F-150 Lightning, which will be produced at the factory. (Andrew Roth | Michigan Advance)
Michigan Republicans have renewed their assault on a planned electric vehicle battery plant in Calhoun County after the Chinese company affiliated with the $2 billion project was essentially blacklisted by the federal government.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) released its annual list of “Chinese military companies” determined to be operating directly or indirectly in the United States. On the list was Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), whose technology Ford Motor Co. plans to license in order to produce low-cost lithium-iron phosphate batteries at the plant near Marshall, which is under construction and expected to begin production in 2026.
The DoD said the list is a “important continuing effort in highlighting and countering the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Military-Civil Fusion strategy,” which “supports the modernization goals of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by ensuring it can acquire advanced technologies and expertise developed by PRC companies, universities, and research programs that appear to be civilian entities.”
At the heart of the concern over Chinese companies operating in the U.S. is a requirement by the Chinese government that they provide access to all of its proprietary and customer data, which officials say could pose a threat to national security interests.
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The same issue is at play in the ongoing dispute over TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media platform. In April 2024, President Biden signed a bipartisan bill into law requiring TikTok be sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a possible ban. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Friday morning on whether to overturn or delay the law.
CATL, the world’s largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles, also supplies Tesla, the EV manufacturer owned by billionaire Elon Musk, a top ally of President-elect Donald Trump who is leading his so-called government efficiency effort.
Companies that are included on the 1260H list, required by Congress since 2021, are barred from entering into Defense Department contracts. However, their inclusion also places those firms in the spotlight as potential threats to U.S. national security.
It is a further red flag against the Marshall project, known formally as the BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, which initially received $1.7 billion in financial backing from the state through its Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund. The funding has drawn ongoing criticism from Republican legislators, including state Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport), who renewed her call for Michigan to seek the return of, or claw back, taxpayer subsidies awarded to Ford for the project.
“These latest developments underscore what I’ve been saying all along — projects like this require much stricter oversight,” said Lightner. “We must have safeguards in place to protect taxpayers from financial risks and national security threats. If a project is tanking, or it turns out to have ties to a questionable company, we need the ability to claw back those funds and redirect them to better uses.”
A Ford Motor Co. spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by the Michigan Advance.
CATL, however, issued a statement, calling its inclusion on the list a “mistake,” claiming it “never engaged in any military-related business or activities,” and that it planned to “proactively engage with DoD to address the false designation, including legal action if necessary, to protect the interests of our company and shareholders as a whole.”
When asked about the listing during the Michigan Senate’s first day of session on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Twp.) told reporters that it was just the latest in a long list of reasons that Republicans have opposed the project.
“The end of the day, I’m somebody that continues to oppose writing checks to some of the most profitable corporations in the world,” said Nesbitt. “If you’re having to bribe the companies to come here, then that means you’re not competitive in another area. I continue to oppose this kind of Whitmer giveaway, corporate welfare.”
Nesbitt was referring to financial support by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Democratic leaders in the state House and Senate for EV-related projects during their two-year trifecta of controlling both chambers of the Legislature and the executive branch.
However, GOP opposition to the SOAR fund only began after Democrats took control of Lansing. The fund itself was created in 2021 through legislation sponsored by Republicans and passed by the then-GOP controlled House and Senate, largely in response to Ford’s announcement that it would invest $11.4 billion in battery and electric vehicle assembly plant investments in Tennessee and Kentucky.
In September 2023, Ford paused construction on the Marshall plant, but after resuming work on a scaled-down project several months later, Lightner introduced a $725.3 million negative supplemental appropriations plan to return previously allocated SOAR funds and related infrastructure funding for the Marshall project to the state’s general fund.
She also sought legislation to mandate annual audits of the SOAR fund and put forth proposals to establish automatic claw-back provisions requiring unspent funds to be returned to the general fund if a project was canceled or indefinitely paused.
“This new federal action against CATL validates the concerns many of us have been raising for months,” said Lightner. “Michigan cannot afford to gamble with taxpayer money on a project linked to a company flagged for ties to the Chinese military. It’s time to claw back these funds and protect our economic and national security.”
Advance reporter Kyle Davidson contributed to this story.
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