US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has written to Ford Motor Company Chief Executive Jim Farley warning of national security concerns over the automaker’s ties with is Chinese partners. The letter names three specific concerns: a battery technology licence from CATL, a Spanish manufacturing venture with Geely Auto in Spain, and the longer-than-expected reshoring of some Lincoln models until 2030.

Ford’s BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, Michigan, makes batteries using licensed technology from CATL, a company which appears on the US Department of War’s list of companies with alleged ties to the Chinese military. The secretary cited the designation as central to his national security concerns over the arrangement.

The secretary also raised Ford’s new partnership with Geely Auto to produce low- and zero-emission vehicles at the automaker’s factory in Valencia, Spain. The decision to hold back Lincoln reshoring until 2030 extends Ford’s dependence on China across multiple segments, compounding the political pressure on the automaker.

In the letter, Duffy said: “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. Iconic American companies, like Ford, are also expected to out-innovate competitors. To that end, they need to chart clear paths to technological self-reliance.”

Why this matters:

• A blacklisted-company link raises the stakes.Citing CATL’s presence on the Department of War’s list of Chinese military-linked companies gives Duffy’s criticism a specific regulatory basis, rather than general economic concern, which could make Ford’s “licensing, not dependence” defence a harder argument to sustain.
• DOT’s involvement signals unusual interagency reach.Trade and national security scrutiny typically sits with Commerce, so Transportation taking the lead suggests either a coordinated administration push or an attempt by DOT specifically to shape the automotive-China narrative ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping.
• Ford’s rebuttal leans on a distinction regulators may reject.Framing the CATL relationship as ownership and operation rather than dependency could prove a fragile argument if Congress advances the pending bill targeting Chinese technology ties more broadly than ownership stakes alone.