Secretary Duffy’s letter is a wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines at the expense of a company that has done more for American manufacturing than virtually any other in the nation’s history.
Ford is the most American automaker. We produce more vehicles in the U.S., employ more hourly manufacturing workers and export more vehicles from the U.S. than any other automaker. While our crosstown rivals and foreign-based competitors increasingly rely on importing foreign-made vehicles from Japan, Mexico and Korea, Ford is doubling down on America.
BlueOval Battery Park Michigan in Marshall is a Ford-owned and Ford-operated facility representing billions of dollars in investment and approximately 1,700 new American jobs. It is producing batteries in Michigan, with American workers, for Ford vehicles also built in America. While others continue to import Chinese batteries, Ford is investing to build batteries here in America. The CATL arrangement is a limited technology-licensing and services agreement, not a joint venture or foreign-owned manufacturing operation. Ford owns the plant, controls the operation and employs the workforce.
In fact, the White House itself touted Ford’s Marshall project just last week in an official press release:
Secretary Duffy’s letter also contains factual errors. Ford has not proposed a joint-venture framework as described in the letter.
The letter’s claims regarding Lincoln are equally misguided. Ford is working productively with officials across the administration on trade, emissions standards and bringing manufacturing home, including a commitment to increase Lincoln production for U.S. customers. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick praised that decision just last month, describing it as evidence that manufacturers are “bringing their manufacturing home,” saying Ford is “going to rock us with bringing manufacturing back to America” and crediting the move with bringing “thousands and thousands of jobs back to America.”
Ford believes the United States must compete from a position of strength with American ownership, American jobs, American production and strong national-security safeguards. That is exactly what we are doing across our U.S. manufacturing footprint. Ford supports the Trump administration’s vision for advancing American innovation and manufacturing. Had Secretary Duffy reached out before issuing his letter to the press, we would have been happy to share more details about Ford’s U.S. commitment.
