By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Senator Marco Rubio on
Tuesday asked the Biden administration to review Ford Motor's deal to use technology from Chinese battery company CATL as part of the automaker's plan to spend $3.5
billion to build a battery plant in Michigan.
Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence
Committee, wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Energy
Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Transportation Secretary Pete
Buttigieg calling for an immediate Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review of the licensing
agreement between Ford and CATL.
Rubio said the deal "will only deepen U.S. reliance on the
Chinese Communist Party for battery tech, and is likely designed
to make the factory eligible for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
tax credits," in a statement posted on his website.
The $430 billion IRA imposes restrictions on battery
sourcing and is designed to wean the United States off the
Chinese supply chain for electric vehicles (EVs). The IRA will
eventually bar credits if any EV battery components were
manufactured by a "foreign entity of concern," in a provision
aimed at China.
CFIUS is a U.S. Treasury-led interagency panel that reviews
proposed transactions to ensure they do not harm national
security.
Treasury declined to comment, but Granholm said on Twitter
on Monday that "bringing advanced manufacturing capabilities
from overseas to the United States is key to our
competitiveness, will stimulate our economy, and create
good-paying American jobs."
Ford said the plant would create 2,500 jobs and begin
producing lower cost and faster recharging
lithium-iron-phosphate batteries in 2026. It would own and
control the facility with no foreign investment or U.S. tax
dollars going to CATL, the automaker said in a statement.
Ford executive chairman Bill Ford said Monday that the
technology agreement with CATL would "help us get up to speed so
we can build these batteries ourselves - batteries made here in
Michigan and built for America."
Rubio said he wanted to ensure that no U.S. funds go to CATL
"especially not when American F-22s are being deployed in real
time to shoot down Chinese spy balloons."
China says the balloon shot down on Feb. 4 was a civilian
weather-monitoring aircraft, but the incident has deepened the
diplomatic rift between the countries.
Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise tweeted
criticism of the Ford deal, while Republican Virginia Governor
Glenn Youngkin said last month that his state had withdrawn from
the competition to attract the Ford plant over concern's about
China's potential involvement.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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