The U.S. Department of Defense blacklisted the Chinese battery company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. and others from federal contracts on Tuesday.

CATL, which is partnering with Ford on a BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, was added to the Pentagon’s Section 1260H list of 134 Chinese dual-use industrial companies it believes is involved in China’s efforts to modernize its military.

The move effectively bans CATL and others added to the list Tuesday from bidding for contracts with the U.S. armed forces, but also highlights concerns about CATL’s partnership in Michigan and close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

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U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chair of the House select committee on China, told the Detroit Free Press he’s “encouraged” the Defense Department is heeding calls from him and many others in Washington to take action to protect American interests.

“We cannot allow these loaded guns to threaten our economy and security,” he said.

The updated list comes about five months after Moolenaar and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., penned a letter to Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to urge the inclusion of CATL on the Section 1260H list, arguing the change “is long overdue and justified.”

“CATL’s connections to the CCP, and its armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), are extensive and obvious,” according to the letter, which outlined the company’s various connections to the CCP and China’s military.

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“The DoD would not only safeguard America’s military infrastructure from exposure to the PLA, it would also send a powerful signal to U.S. companies that are currently weighing partnerships with CATL,” the duo wrote.

In Michigan, CATL is partnering with Ford on what was initially a $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Marshal that secured nearly $1 billion in taxpayer subsidies from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration in 2023.

Ford has since scaled down its plans by $1 billion and cut job projections for the site from 2,500 to at least 800, prompting the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to slash subsidies to about $225 million.

Ford intends to license battery technology from CATL, the world’s largest EV battery producer, but staff the Marshall plant with Ford employees, Fortune reports.

The Pentagon’s decision to include CATL and others on its blacklist prompted an immediate rebuke from those companies and the Chinese government.

Others that made the list include Tencant, which runs China’s popular WeChat app, MGI Tech, maker of genomic sequencing instruments, Origincell Technology, Changxin Memory Technologies, Quectel Wireless, drone maker Autel Robotics, and COSCO Shipping Holdings, China’s largest shipping company.

“CATL has never engaged in any military-related business or activities, so this designation by the Department of Defense is a mistake,” the company, worth an estimated $150 billion, said in a statement.

CATL also threatened to sue the U.S. in response.

A company spokesman noted the new designation “does not restrict CATL from conducting business with entities other than the Department of Defense and is expected to have no substantially adverse impact on our business,” The New York Times reports.

Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese ministry, also condemned the new DOD designations at a press briefing in Beijing, according to Bloomberg.

“We urge the US to immediately correct its wrongdoings and end the illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction on Chinese companies,” Jiakun said.

The DoD’s Section 1260H list stems from an order signed by President Donald Trump during his first term in 2020 that bans American investment in Chinese companies that are owned or controlled by the military, Bloomberg reports.

Trump, who will be sworn in to a second term later this month, has tapped Rubio to serve as secretary of state, signaling the move Tuesday may be the first of many to better protect America’s interests.

“The U.S. isn’t just safeguarding a handful of technologies anymore,” Craig Singleton, an expert on China with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Free Press. “The garden of sensitive technologies is growing, and the fence protecting them is being fortified.”