Carlos Gimenez says Biden helped China in Ford partnership with manufacturer
Eden Villalovas
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Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) expressed concerns over a licensing agreement between Ford Motor and a Chinese battery maker, pushing for more information and holding the Biden administration accountable for the deal.
“Did the Biden administration give Ford the green light?” Gimenez asked on Fox News Saturday. “Now, the Biden administration talks real tough about getting tough on China sanctions, et cetera.”
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“But, then, like I always say, never listen to what the Biden administration says; always look at what they’re doing, and this is an example, I believe, of the Biden administration helping out the CCP,” Gimenez said.
Gimenez said President Joe Biden is using climate change as an excuse to make the United States more dependent on Chinese energy sources.
Two top Republicans, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), sent a letter to Ford on Thursday outlining a number of concerns about the partnership and demanding answers into the $3.5 billion proposed factory in Michigan.
Gimenez said he’s concerned about the tax credits Ford will be receiving and that “the U.S. taxpayer fair dollar will be paying for Chinese workers,” to work at a plant that they’ll have operational control over.
“The owner of this particular company has been rumored to participate in forced labor in China and some of these other companies,” Gimenez said, referring to questions of whether Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. is trying to cover links to forced labor.
Last year, the U.S. began enforcement of a ban on products from Xinjiang because of the region’s use of forced labor practices through the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
In February, Ford revealed its billion-dollar battery factory with CATL, the largest producer of batteries for electric vehicles in the world.
CATL supplies Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen, and other automakers, producing around one-third of electric vehicle batteries in the world, according to a Seoul-based company, SNE Research.
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“They’re looking for profits above the national security interests of the United States and, you know, shame on Ford for doing this,” Gimenez said.
Gimenez said he has no issue with Ford building a multibillion-dollar battery plant in the United States but questioned why the company would get into business with a “Chinese company which has ties to the CCP and undermining our national security.”