Ford CEO Jim Farley Says Red Tape Is ‘Bane’ For Auto Industry

As is the case in many large U.S. industries, the automotive sector deals with its fair share of legalities and regulatory requirements, which are intended to protect certain entities – such as consumers and the environment – but in many cases, can also be quite burdensome for automakers. This is especially true in the modern world of automobile manufacturing, as it’s becoming increasingly reliant on raw materials that largely come from places like China, which has become a concern as of late. However, Ford CEO Jim Farley believes that automakers are facing far too much red tape in terms of obtaining permits, and recently called for change in that regard.

“Modernizing permitting. In this country it’s very very difficult to permit and red tape is absolutely the bane of the economy,” Farley said during an appearance at the recent 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival.

As automotive suppliers work to mine the raw materials needed to produce EV batteries in the U.S. rather than get them from countries of concern such as China, we’re starting to see just how difficult such a task can be. As Ford Authority reported back in early May, that was on clear display when Albemarle Corp. – a company that Ford had signed a raw materials deal with years ago – announced that it was pausing its plans to build what would have become the largest lithium refinery in the U.S., due to a glut of lithium that has driven prices so low that erecting such a facility simple wouldn’t be profitable.

Then there’s another lithium supplier – Ioneer – which was eventually cleared to begin mining in Nevada’s Silver Peak Range by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) last year, a site that could produce enough of that material to power roughly 370,000 all-electric vehicles annually when it’s completed. That process took an exceptionally long time to play out, however, due to pushback from those regulatory agencies.