David Hart, senior fellow for climate and energy at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a Feb. 19, 2026, statement that China’s dominance over autonomous, connected, and electric (ACE) vehicle supply chains increases security risks for the United States.
The issue is highlighted in Hart's report "Compete, Don’t Retreat: A Smarter U.S. Response to China’s Automotive Revolution," published in December 2025. The report examines China's advantages in ACE vehicles and recommends strategies to protect U.S. interests. According to Hart, overreliance on Chinese suppliers such as Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) could undermine domestic production and expose critical infrastructure according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
"Conflict over Ford’s plan to use licensed CATL technology in its EV batteries manifested broader hostility to Chinese FDI: Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin rejected siting a battery plant that would have employed about 2,500 workers in his state over the issue... China’s dominance over ACE supply chains heightens the security risks of adopting Chinese-made vehicles on a large scale... Chinese entities control much of global manufacturing capacity, not only for ACE vehicles themselves but also for batteries, battery components, sensors, and other inputs. In some cases, such as battery anodes, the Chinese share exceeds 90 percent... The risk that transportation services could be disrupted at the behest of the Chinese government, using back doors or other weaknesses built into software, also worries Western security analysts," according to Hart.
CATL held 39.2 percent of the global electric vehicle battery market in 2025 with installations totaling 464.7 gigawatt-hours (GWh), according to SNE Research as reported by CnEVPost. This market share extends into supply chains where China controls more than 90 percent of some key components. U.S. reliance on these imports increases vulnerability to potential disruptions according to government assessments.
Michigan leads U.S. vehicle manufacturing with more than two million units produced annually and supports nearly half a million jobs in the auto sector as reported by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. The Ford-CATL plant planned for Marshall aims to add another 1,700 positions but has raised concerns about dependence on foreign technology.
The U.S. auto industry supports nearly one million direct jobs and generates more than $1.2 trillion in economic output according to the American Automotive Policy Council. China's control of battery production—including military ties identified by the Department of Defense—poses threats through possible supply disruptions.
