Romulus — Reducing dependence on Chinese supply chains, the need for permitting reform for critical minerals, and concerns over a lack of reciprocity with China on testing autonomous vehicle technologies were among the themes of meetings Tuesday between top automotive executives and federal lawmakers.
U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham and John Moolenaar, R-Caledonia, on Tuesday met with General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley and other top executives from auto companies in the Detroit area. The four lawmakers are members of the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
“We’re here today because we know that American workers and American companies are on the front lines of this competition with the Chinese Communist Party,” Gallagher, who serves as chairman of the committee, told journalists following the meetings. “For too long, we’ve ignored the CCP’s blatant violation of trade agreements, its intellectual property theft, its economic coercion that has disadvantaged American workers, and not allowed us to compete on a level playing field.”
The meetings with auto executives in Metro Detroit, he said, sought “to grapple with this question of how can we put American workers on a level playing field where they can compete?”
“We appreciate the opportunity to discuss a range of policy issues important to General Motors including establishing the U.S. as a leader in electric and autonomous vehicles,” GM spokesperson Jeannine Ginivan said in a statement. “GM is making historic investments in the U.S. to transform our portfolio, strengthen American manufacturing and jobs, and localize and build more secure and resilient supply chains.”
Ford spokesperson Melissa Miller said in a statement: “Ford shares the Committee’s goals of strengthening American competitiveness and establishing EV supply chains in the U.S., and in our meeting we plan to share how we’re doing just that. In fact, across multiple EV and battery projects, Ford is helping to advance U.S. manufacturing and directly create more than 18,000 good-paying American jobs.”
The lawmakers declined to characterize or comment specifically on what they discussed in the private meetings, but indicated that several key issues emerged as points of consensus for further discussion and policy implementation.
One key takeaway, according to the legislators, was the need to take a closer look at regulations governing the testing of autonomous vehicles, including caps on the number of exempt testing vehicles per manufacturer and the fact that Chinese companies are testing AVs in the United States, but China does not allow U.S. companies to do the same.
“One big takeaway from today, I think, and a no-brainer is insisting on autonomous vehicle reciprocity with China. Why is it that three of the seven autonomous vehicles being tested in America are Chinese companies, when we have no access to the Chinese market when it comes to AVs?” said Gallagher.
Other issues where they believe they found consensus were around permitting reform for critical minerals needed for electric-vehicle batteries, supporting growth in the domestic manufacturing workforce, and the need for greater predictability from Washington on the U.S.-China relationship.
“There are certainly areas where half a day in Detroit is not going to produce kumbaya,” said Gallagher, “but I’m leaving this trip thinking there are at least three or four proposals that we can work on together going forward.”
Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat who is the committee’s ranking minority member, agreed that lawmakers came out of the meetings “with some bipartisan suggestions on moving forward.”
Moolenaar characterized the conversations as “very candid and open” and said that one topic of discussion was the impact of rapidly-tightening environmental regulations: “It’s something where, I think, it’s important that we look at a glide path that gives our companies time to adapt.”
Gallagher declined to comment on the specifics, but one topic in the meeting with Ford executives was the Dearborn automaker’s battery technology licensing agreement with Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, an agreement that has drawn scrutiny and criticism from Republicans in Washington.
“This is the first conversation of what I hope will be many,” he said. “I still think we’re trying to figure out, what is the best path forward where American companies can onshore the production of critical technology and how we can solve some of the problems we have when it comes to critical minerals and rare earth processing without relying on Chinese companies. And right now I don’t have a silver bullet solution to that. So I’m hoping to continue the conversations and arrive at a solution that balances the national security risks with the economic imperatives these companies face day to day.”
Ford is building a $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Marshall, where it plans to use CATL technology under a licensing agreement that does not involve a joint venture or any ownership on the Chinese battery maker’s part. The plant in Marshall is slated to be the first automaker-backed lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, battery plant in the United States. It’s expected to create 2,500 jobs and open in 2026.
Still, some GOP lawmakers have argued the project poses a national security risk. Ford has pushed back on the criticism by pointing out that most batteries in U.S. EVs today are imported from China, and by noting that none of the federal subsidies tied to domestic battery production would go to CATL.
“I think it’s important that lawmakers are asking questions,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told The Detroit News on Tuesday, in response to a question about Washington’s focus on China and auto supply chains. Whitmer has been a steadfast proponent of the Ford battery plant project in Marshall.
“In order for us to corner the market, we’ve got to onshore and hold on to and continue to invest in this work. So I think that the IRA and the CHIPS Act are going a long way toward that,” she said. “But I think it would be a big mistake for anyone to assert that we currently have all the technology and intellectual property to completely supplant what we’ve forced our auto companies to build around the globe. And that’s why onshoring really is the long-term play here and solution as we think about homeland security, American leadership and independence.”
Tuesday’s meetings in Romulus also come on the heels of two days of meetings this week between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping during which they agreed to “stabilize” ties between China and the United States, the Associated Press reported. Still, Blinken left without an agreement on improving communications between the two countries’ militaries, something that had been a top priority. The meeting marked the highest-level U.S. visit to China in five years, according to the AP.
jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com
Staff Writer Riley Beggin contributed.