Governor Youngkin Actions and Reactions
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Ford–China Battery Plant Agreement Would Have Been a ‘Trojan Horse’: Gov. Youngkin
https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2022/05/07/glenn-youngkin-1200x800.jpgLast 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.
“I’d much rather have a good clean deal than one that’s embroiled in controversy, and one that is going to promote the Chinese Communist Party,” Youngkin said during a Jan. 20 interview with Bloomberg. “It won’t be one that uses kind of a Trojan horse relationship with the Chinese Communist Party in order to gain.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Ford Motor Company for comment.
Glenn Youngkin: Communist China Tries Using ‘Trojan Horse’ To Get Access To Reap U.S. Taxpayer Benefits
Youngkin said the plant would have been operated by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology and would have been a “trojan horse structure to gain access to taxpayer incentives” legislation that Democrats passed which gives credits to consumers for purchasing electric vehicles.
“This is using taxpayer money to further enrich a Chinese company at the expense of America. It’s just not happening in Virginia,” Youngkin said. “This should be an American supply chain that’s trusted, not one that’s outsourced to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Youngkin rejected Ford’s $3.5 billion push for the factory last month. The plant, which was under consideration for Pittsylvania County in the southwestern part of Old Dominion, would have made lithium iron phosphate batteries for electric vehicles and employed as many as 2,500 workers.
“The consortium of Ford and CATL were hoping to build a plant, as reported and confirmed by Ford, where Ford would build the building, but a company that is majorly influenced by the Chinese Communist Party was going to operate the plant, and the employees were going to work for the Chinese Communist Party controlled company,” Youngkin said last month. “They were going to use that in order to try to tap into taxpayer benefits at state level as well as the federal level that were specifically designated for non-Chinese communist party entities.” Youngkin told reporters he was uncomfortable with a CCP-connected company benefiting from Virginia tax dollars, adding that he felt the deal’s structure was “a bit deceptive.”