The nation’s transportation chief told Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday to back away from Chinese partners and put U.S. plants first in a letter sent to Chief Executive Jim Farley, citing national security concerns and the need for American jobs.
But the automaker responded, calling the letter “a wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines.”
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in a Sept. 8 news release that Ford has deepened its reliance on China as Washington treats Beijing as a “strategic competitor.”
Duffy wrote that skilled American workers lose when Ford manufactures with Chinese companies abroad instead of expanding at home….