Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has sent multiple letters to members of President Joe Biden’s (D) administration concerning the Ford Motor Company’s recent announcement.
Ford disclosed their plans of a new joint venture with China-based Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Company and an Indonesian subsidiary of a Brazil-based mining conglomerate, known as Vale. One of the main concerns is that Ford is not a majority stakeholder in the venture, which, according to Sen. Rubio, puts “the company at the mercy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”
This move from the legacy American car company could also put national security and “economic competitiveness” at risk, as the CCP looks to move forward with its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Rubio’s letters were sent to major figures in the Biden administration. These names include Attorney General Merrick Garland, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Rubio wrote to Garland, “In light of Ford’s explicit complicity in the BRI, one of Beijing’s principle geopolitical strategies, I fear there may be individuals within the executive leadership of Ford who are subservient to the CCP and acting as unregistered foreign agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in their meetings and outreach to U.S. government officials. I urge the U.S. Department of Justice to determine if this is the case and to take appropriate legal action against those who are in violation of FARA.”
The Florida Senator called on Secretary Yellen to act upon this development and “hold Ford accountable.”
“You both have stated your openness to establishing an outbound investment screening and review mechanism similar to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to crack down on American financial investments that support malignant foreign ventures. I hope you will work to expeditiously implement such a policy mechanism to hold Ford accountable for cooperating with human traffickers and slavers in advancing the PRC’s geopolitical strategy, to the detriment of American economic development and national security,” wrote Rubio.
And in his letter to Secretary of State Blinken, Rubio scolded Blinken and another U.S. Ambassador for their celebration of this agreement.
“In remarks published on April 4, 2023, four days after a Ford press release characterized the joint venture as a project under PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) BRI, [U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Sung] Kim celebrated the agreement stating: ‘I am deeply impressed by all the work that has gone into making this partnership a reality …’ In reality, this project makes America more dependent on the PRC. American officials should be condemning efforts to undermine the strategic interests of the United States, not endorsing them.”
The venture is described as a “flagship project,” for the CCP.
