In a setback for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), Ford is pausing construction on a $3.5 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery plant set for Marshall, Michigan. The automaker is collaborating on the plant with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL), linked heavily to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
On Monday, Ford executives announced they are halting construction of the EV battery plant, telling the Detroit News that the automaker is “pausing work” and has not “made a final decision about the investment” in Marshall.
The move is a blow to Whitmer, who championed the controversial project, suggesting the plant would bring 2,500 production jobs to the area, despite Ford’s commitment to work with CATL, China’s premier EV battery supplier.
While investing $3.5 billion into the plant, Ford was also raking in millions through tax breaks from Michigan taxpayers. For example, the automaker had “secured about $210 million in direct tax incentives plus a 15-year property tax abatement worth about $775 million over the life of the tax break,” along with millions more in breaks.
Most notably, as Breitbart News reported, CATL enjoys subsidies overseen by the CCP.
Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, during the 2022 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. (Erin Kirkland/Bloomberg via Getty Images
As part of the venture with CATL, Ford was hoping to score federal subsidies through President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for EV batteries produced at the Marshall plant — a prospect that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told Biden officials he was “alarmed” by.
“… if Chinese companies like CATL are able to exploit both Chinese and United States incentives for battery and EV technology through clever corporate arrangements, then there is no use in investing federal funds toward industrial development in the first place,” Rubio wrote to officials earlier this year. “Taxpayer dollars should never be used to support [People’s Republic of China] champions.”
As Breitbart News reported, CATL CEO Zeng Yuqun is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee — a high-ranking CCP advisory body that serves as a central component of the party’s “United Front” efforts.
China’s “United Front” efforts, as the federal government has noted, are considered to be a front for CCP intelligence operations overseas.
“The United Front strategy uses a range of methods to influence overseas Chinese communities, foreign governments, and other actors to take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies,” a federal commission report from 2018 details.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
