(Bloomberg) -- China fined Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Co.’s main joint venture in the country for antitrust violations, marking the latest action toward a U.S. company as tensions between the two nations escalate.
Changan Ford Automobile Co. will be fined 162.8 million yuan ($23.6 million) for restricting retailers’ sale prices in the southwestern city of Chongqing since 2013, according to a statement on the State Administration for Market Regulation’s website. The fine amount is equivalent to 4% of Changan Ford’s annual sales in Chongqing.
Last week, China said that it’s investigating FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX). for “wrongful” deliveries, a move framed by the state news agency as a warning by Beijing after the Trump administration declared a ban on business with telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. China has also threatened to blacklist foreign firms that damage domestic companies’ interests.
It’s not the first time China has hit out at an American automaker amid geopolitical tensions.
The country fined General Motors Co (NYSE:GM). $29 million over antitrust violations in 2016, shortly after then President-elect Donald Trump proposed tariffs on the nation’s goods, questioned the One-China policy regarding Taiwan and accused China of stealing an American naval drone in international waters in the South China Sea.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Tian Ying in Beijing at ytian@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Emma O'Brien
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