Ford Motor Company has rejected US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy’s criticism of its Chinese partnerships, calling the letter an attempt to generate headlines. The automaker said the letter contains factual errors and that its Marshall, Michigan battery plant is Ford-owned, Ford-operated and staffed by American workers.

BlueOval Battery Park Michigan represents billions of dollars of investment and around 1,700 jobs. Ford characterised the Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) arrangement as a limited technology-licensing and services agreement, saying it owns the plant and employs the workforce.

In a statement, Ford said: “Ford is the most American automaker. We produce more vehicles in the U.S., employ more hourly manufacturing workers and export more vehicles from the U.S. than any other automaker.”

The company disputed the letter’s reference to a proposed joint-venture framework, saying no such proposal was made. The statement also noted the White House cited the Marshall project in an official release last month.

On Lincoln, Ford said it is working with the administration on trade, emissions standards and reshoring, including a commitment to raise Lincoln production for US customers. It cited Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s remarks last month crediting the decision with returning “thousands and thousands of jobs” to the country.

Why this matters:

• Ford is citing the White House’s own words against Duffy.Pointing to a White House release praising the same Marshall plant Duffy criticised suggests Ford sees inconsistency within the administration itself as its strongest available defence, rather than relying on its own claims alone.
• The ownership-versus-licensing distinction is doing heavy lifting.Ford’s rebuttal rests almost entirely on the plant being Ford-owned and Ford-operated despite using licensed Chinese technology, a framing that works only if regulators accept licensing as meaningfully different from dependency.
• Calling out “factual errors” invites a credibility contest.By directly disputing Duffy’s characterisation of the joint-venture framework and Lincoln timeline rather than simply defending its own strategy, Ford is betting that winning the factual dispute matters more than de-escalating the political one.