A licensing agreement between Ford Motor Co. and a major Chinese battery-maker is facing scrutiny by Republican lawmakers, who say it could make an American automaker reliant on a company with links to forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region.
A CATL battery plant under construction in Ningde, China, on Nov. 17, 2021.
CATL publicly divested its share of the company, Xinjiang Zhicun Lithium Industry Co., in March, after its deal with Ford was announced. But the shares were bought by an investment partnership in which CATL had owned a partial stake when it was established, as well as a former CATL manager who holds leadership roles in other companies owned by the battery-maker, corporate records show.
“There has been an awful lot said and implied about this project that is incorrect,” Reid said. “At the end of the day, we think creating 2,500 good-paying jobs with a new multibillion investment in the U.S. for great technology that we’ll bring to bear in great electric vehicles is good all the way around.”
“The profit margins go to the innovators who provide the advanced technology, not the people with screwdrivers that assemble the advanced technology,” he said. A battery unveiled by CATL last year delivers hundreds of miles of driving range after a charge of just 10 minutes. For decades, Western companies have had a monopoly on the world’s most advanced technologies, and have sought access to the Chinese market while also safeguarding their intellectual property.
In 2022, CATL and a partner registered a lithium processing company in the region called Xinjiang Zhicun Lithium Industry Co., which promoted plans to become the world’s largest producer of lithium carbonate, a key battery component.
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