WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The chairs of two U.S. House committees asked the Biden administration to investigate four Chinese companies they say are involved in Ford Motor's planned Michigan battery plant, according to a letter seen Monday by Reuters.
The previously unreported letter said the four Chinese companies have direct ties to the Chinese military, Chinese Communist Party, North Korean government and alleged human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region.
The plant has drawn fire from U.S. lawmakers for its use of technology supplied by Chinese battery maker CATL. Representative Mike Gallagher, who chairs the select committee on China, and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, urged the Commerce Department to investigate and impose export restrictions on the four Chinese companies they said were involved in the "facility's design, construction, and information technology (IT) processes."