WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of US lawmakers will urge the CEOs of Ford Motor (FN) and General Motors (GM.N) to reduce their reliance on Chinese auto parts, particularly batteries for electric vehicles vehicles, sources told Reuters on Monday. .
Four lawmakers who are part of the House of Representatives’ China Select Committee will travel to Detroit on Tuesday to meet Ford’s Jim Farley and GM’s Mary Barra, the sources said.
Republicans Mike Gallagher and John Moolenaar and Democrats Raja Krishnamoorthi and Haley Stevens also plan to meet executives from auto suppliers, including BorgWarner (BWA.N), Continental (CONG.DE), Bosch (BOSH.NS), Tenneco and battery companies. startup Our Next Energy (ONE).
The focus on Chinese auto parts comes shortly after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a rare visit to Beijing and hours of meetings failed to yield any major breakthroughs.
Ford said on Monday it “shares the committee’s goals to strengthen US competitiveness and establish EV supply chains in the US, and in our meeting tomorrow we plan to share how we are doing just that.”
GM declined to comment on the meeting.
[1/2] The GM logo is seen at the Chinese headquarters in Shanghai, China, August 29, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
Gallagher, who chairs the China committee, raised concerns in April about Tesla’s (TSLA.O) reliance on China after the company unveiled plans to open a Megapack battery factory in Shanghai.
The $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed by President Joe Biden in August, aims to divert US EV production away from Chinese supply chains by imposing new conditions on EV tax credits. The new tax credit rules limit eligibility to vehicles assembled in North America only and set rules for battery procurement.
Ford’s deal announced in February to use technology from Chinese battery company CATL (300750.SZ) as part of the automaker’s plan to spend $3.5 billion to build a battery plant in Michigan has drawn criticism from some legislators.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio has asked the Biden administration to block electric vehicle tax credits for batteries produced with Chinese technology.
Ford previously said, “It’s much better to make those batteries here at home than continue to rely solely on foreign imports, as other auto companies do.”
Bloomberg News was the first to report on the planned meetings.
Reporting by David Shepardson and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Edited by Sandra Maler and Lisa Shumaker