In June, Ford Motor Co. (F) CEO Jim Farley briefed visiting members of Congress on the company's plans to build a $3.5 billion battery plant. He believes that using Chinese battery technology at the Michigan plant is a smart move that will help the United States catch up with China's level of expertise.
Later in the day, at the headquarters of General Motors (GM), CEO Mary Barra and her team delivered a different message to those lawmakers: Ford's plan could be a harbinger of Chinese dominance in U.S. auto manufacturing.
At stake in the meetings are not only the honor of the cross-town rivals, but also the price many Americans will pay for electric vehicles over the next decade and how the two automakers will make billions of dollars in investments to sell them in the United States, according to people familiar with the meetings.
The two companies are lobbying for a $7,500 tax credit for buyers of new electric vehicles. Starting next year, consumers will not be eligible for the tax credit if they buy a car that uses battery parts from what the United States considers a "foreign entity of concern." "Foreign entity of concern" is a vague term meant to reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese power batteries and materials.
President Joe Biden is expected to decide this fall how strict the requirement will be. If the rules are too strict, few, if any, electric vehicles will qualify for the tax credit, which could leave Americans with little incentive to switch from gasoline-powered cars to electric vehicles. A loose interpretation of the rules could provoke opposition from Republicans and other critics of China.
Ford has lobbied for a more flexible interpretation of the "foreign entity" rule; The company plans to license Chinese technology to produce cheaper iron-based batteries in Michigan. If its planned batteries do not qualify for car subsidies, Ford executives have signaled they may scale back investment; The company suspended work on the new battery plant on Monday.
Chris Smith, Ford's chief government affairs officer, said: "The classification of Ford or its wholly-owned subsidiaries as foreign entities is absurd, let alone alarming. We're Ford. Our heart is in America."
Gm does not plan to invest in the Chinese battery company, and Ford, meanwhile, could gain a key technological and cost advantage in the electric car race if the Ford deal goes ahead. Gm executives and lobbyists have called for strict "concerned foreign entity" rules to prevent such licensing arrangements.
"This is not a contest between GM and Ford," a GM spokesman said. She said GM wants clarity on the rules and that the rules should follow the intent of the Inflation Reduction Act, which sets out new tax relief requirements.
Robbie Orvis, senior director at Energy Innovation, a climate think tank, said the tax credit, along with the "foreign entity of concern" rule, will determine how many electric vehicles are sold in the United States over the next decade.
"That's the big missing piece that a lot of us are looking for," he said.
Ford's big gamble
The U.S. auto giant sees electric vehicles as the future of the industry. The striking United Auto Workers union is demanding higher wages and benefits, while Ford, GM and Stellantis say they need to keep labor costs low to invest in electric vehicle production.
For many American car buyers, higher costs remain a big barrier to electric vehicle sales. According to Kelley Blue Book, the average selling price of a new electric vehicle in July was $53,469, higher than the $48,334 average selling price of a gasoline vehicle. As a result, automakers see the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit as essential to entice more price-conscious consumers to switch to electric vehicles.
A Treasury Department spokesman said the Biden administration's incentives would help U.S. automakers lead the world.
"The Inflation Reduction Act is enhancing our energy security by encouraging investment in the United States," she said. "We will continue to assess and respond to any national security concerns related to our domestic and foreign supply chains."
Some automakers are holding off on investing in their electric vehicle supply chains to see what Chinese materials and technologies will be allowed under the final rules for the tax break, according to people familiar with the matter.
Ford had hoped to leverage its partnership with China's Contemporary Amperex Technology (300750.SZ). Ford plans to mass-produce lithium iron phosphate batteries in the United States for the first time under a license from CatL. Such batteries cost much less than other batteries, thus reducing the production cost of the car. According to the company's previous plans, the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning will be powered by this battery.
Ford and Catl reached a licensing agreement rather than a joint venture. Ford will take full control of the subsidiary that owns the Michigan plant and pay Ningde a licensing fee to use its production technology. Catl, the world's largest maker of power batteries, declined to comment.
The awkward situation
But licensing Chinese technology has drawn a political backlash, including from Republicans in Michigan. Several House committees have begun investigations or hearings into the deal.
Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said: "We should be using taxpayer dollars to fund American innovation and creativity and keep America ahead in these areas, not subsidizing China when we're going to be decades behind."
Ford has defended the plan, noting that it will bring jobs and advanced technology to the United States.
Gm executives told the Biden administration that GM and other auto companies would be at a competitive disadvantage if consumers could use the tax credit to buy vehicles made by Ford in the Ningde era, according to people familiar with the matter. General Motors executives have warned that they will feel pressure to strike deals with Chinese companies, undermining Washington's goal of distancing the US auto industry from China.
On a trip to Washington in July, Ford's Farley tried to quell the resentment. Farley faced a barrage of questions from Michigan Republicans at the meeting in his Capitol Hill office, which one attendee described as "tense." People familiar with the meeting said the lawmakers wanted to know how many Catch-era employees would work at the plant and whether Ford employees would learn about Catch-era technology.
Farley's answer did not satisfy many Republican lawmakers at the meeting. Rep. John James, a Michigan Republican, has proposed legislation that would prevent the Ford deal and others like it from qualifying for federal car purchase subsidies.
Biden's conundrum
In many ways, Ford's planned battery plant in Michigan is exactly the type of investment the Biden administration wants to promote in the United States; The plant could create jobs in a swing state. White House officials considered having Mr. Biden attend the factory's announcement in February.
But as White House officials learned more about Mr. Ford's intention to work with Ningder, they chose not to have Mr. Biden attend the event, people familiar with the matter said.
Some Biden administration officials worry that allowing the sharing of intellectual property, as planned by Ford, would open a back door for Chinese companies to dominate the U.S. battery industry, which they see as a potential national security risk, according to people familiar with the matter.
White House officials are also wary of upsetting Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has attacked the Ford deal and the administration's handling of tax subsidies he helped write into law. Manchin said in an interview that he would support any automaker that sued the U.S. government if new rules for electric vehicle tax credits recognized a deal like Ford's.
"If there are companies that have been harmed because of the way they have interpreted it and the way they have invested in the United States, there will be companies that will Sue," Mr Manchin said.
Other administration officials have argued that barring any electric car company with ties to China from qualifying for the tax break could backfire, causing automakers to abandon the rules for obtaining the tax break altogether. These officials also argue that learning from Chinese companies is the best way for the United States to catch up, a point Ford executives have made in meetings with White House officials.
"Everyone wants to move the U.S. away from over-dependence on China," said Jennifer Harris, who worked on clean energy supply chains at the White House until March. "In some areas, the shortest and surest path may be to first take some of China's know-how and constrain and limit it."
Some Michigan Democrats have urged the administration to support Ford's plan and protect the roughly 2,500 jobs Ford says it will bring to the state. In a Sept. 8 letter to Biden administration officials Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Ford's chief counsel warned that the company could scale back its plans if Ford's batteries don't comply with rules related to electric vehicle tax credits.
'This will mean fewer jobs in The U.S.,' wrote Steven Croley, Ford's general counsel, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The UAW blasted Ford's decision, announced this week, to suspend construction of the plant.
The "foreign entity of concern" rule will apply not only to factories that produce electric vehicles and electric vehicle batteries, but also, from 2025, to companies that mine and process the raw materials they use.
Gm earlier this year invested $650 million in Lithium Americas, which plans to open a mining facility in Nevada. Gm surpassed Chinese company Ganfeng to become Lithium Americas' largest shareholder. Ganfeng still holds a 9.4 per cent stake in Lithium Americas. Gm said it intends to invest further in Lithium Americas, which would dilute the holdings of other shareholders.
"At the end of the day, if you're the United States, you want all of this to move out of China," said David Whiston, an auto analyst with Morningstar Research. "But saying and doing are two different things."