The executive, Jim Farley, said President Trump’s tariff and auto policies would raise costs and could force the automaker to cut jobs.
The United Automobile Workers union asked a federal labor regulator to conduct an election at a factory Ford jointly owns with a South Korean battery company.
The money will help finance three plants the automaker and its partner, SK On, are building in Kentucky and Tennessee.
The automaker and a supplier will spend $11.4 billion on three battery factories and a truck plant, creating 11,000 jobs.