By Another American company appears to be kowtowing to China. Ford Motor Company’s marquee electric vehicle battery initiative in Marshall, Michigan is facing escalating scrutiny after evidence emerged that its Chinese partner, Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), may be far more entangled in the project than previously disclosed—raising alarms over national security and transparency.
Touted by Ford and Governor Gretchen Whitmer as a pillar of American industrial renewal, the BlueOval Battery Park Michigan has been repeatedly branded as “wholly American-owned and operated.” Ford emphasized that CATL’s role would be limited to licensing lithium-iron-phosphate battery technology—originally developed in the United States but now dominated by Chinese firms. Yet that narrative is unraveling.
Recent job postings by CATL’s U.S. affiliate, Contemporary Amperex Technology Kentucky (CATK), show the company is actively hiring engineers, safety managers, and administrative staff for positions based directly in Marshall, Michigan. The listings—discovered on LinkedIn and ZipRecruiter—do not reference a separate facility, implying CATK employees would be embedded within Ford’s site, writes Just The News.
The development has cast doubt on the scope of CATL’s operational presence in the U.S.-subsidized plant and intensified bipartisan criticism of Ford’s reliance on a company officially designated by the Department of Defense as a “Chinese Military Company.” That designation, made earlier this year, warns of CATL’s entanglement with China’s defense apparatus and poses clear risks for American firms engaged in cooperative ventures.
“From the outset of the corrupted ‘deal’ concocted and championed between Governor Whitmer, Ford, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and China-based and Chinese Communist Party-tied (CCP) Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) has been fast moving and in secret,” Joseph Cella, former U.S. ambassador to Fiji and Director of the Michigan-China Economic Security Review Group told Just the News.
Ford maintains that it is merely licensing technology—not ceding operational control—and insists the project will bolster U.S. supply chains while creating local jobs. The company has not publicly addressed the hiring revelations.
But the situation has drawn comparisons to a separate Chinese-linked battery plant proposed by Gotion Inc.—a company with acknowledged Chinese Communist Party ties—that was canceled following fierce public opposition and political turnover in Green Charter Township.
Critics now say the Marshall facility is shaping up as a repeat of that fiasco.
Despite mounting pressure, Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation continue to defend the project, calling it a “generational opportunity” for job growth and manufacturing revival. Yet that economic promise is increasingly overshadowed by concerns over foreign influence, surveillance vulnerabilities, and Ford’s opaque disclosures.
CATL has denied engaging in military activities, calling the Pentagon’s classification a “mistake,” and has declined to respond to inquiries about its role at the Marshall site. Ford also declined to comment on the CATK job postings.
With billions in taxpayer-backed subsidies on the line and growing skepticism among both lawmakers and national security analysts, the future of the BlueOval Battery Park may hinge less on EV production and more on whether the public trusts the story Ford is telling.
During the 2024 campaign for Senate, now Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin was accused of signing a nondisclosure agreement with the Chinese company to help it take the land in Michigan. Her Democratic opponent claimed the project, backed by Democratic subsidies, raised national security concerns due to potential Chinese government influence.
Whether it was rooting for China in a trade war, allegedly passing military secrets to them, or taking huge amounts of cash from the communist country, Democrats over the past few years appear to have been infiltrated by China, including one prominent Democrat who was caught having an affair with a Chinese spy.
Earlier in the month, two Chinese students at the University of Michigan were caught trying to smuggle in an agricultural pathogen that could be used in a terror attack to trigger a nationwide food crisis.
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