Two US House of Representatives committees said on July 21 that they had begun an investigation on US automaker Ford Motor’s partnership with Chinese battery maker CATL.
CATL and Ford announced in February that the two would invest US$3.5 billion (23.8 billion yuan) to build a battery factory in Michigan. While Ford would own the factory, CATL would operate the manufacture.
Jason Smith and Mike Gallagher, Republican chairs of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Select Committee on China, demanded Ford answer questions about the cooperation.
The committees said several hundred of the 2,500 Ford plant jobs will be filled by CATL employees from China who will be in charge of setting up and maintaining equipment.
CATL told Jiemian News on Monday that it “had taken note of the issues, and the Michigan project is for now progressing as usual.”
Reuters reported that Ford had reviewed the letter and would respond.
