Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin called the recently rejected Ford Motor plant deal a “Trojan horse” because the agreement would have potentially allowed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to have full access to the technology via Ford’s Chinese partner, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL).
Last week, Youngkin blocked the Ford Motor Company’s request to build a battery manufacturing plant over national security concerns. The automaker has an ongoing agreement with CATL to supply batteries to Ford’s electric vehicles.
This agreement qualifies CATL to receive lucrative production tax benefits under the new Inflation Reduction Act, according to a Bloomberg report. The report also said that the ownership structure of the deal would be Ford owning 100 percent of the plant and CATL owning the technology and operations of the facility….