New Delhi, Feb. 18 -- Ford Motor might be considering helping Chinese auto makers establish a beachhead in the lucrative American car market. It sounds like a bad idea.

Investors don't have much to worry about-yet. Still, understanding what's likely to happen can help them avoid any portfolio mistakes.

Over the weekend, Bloomberg reported that Ford and the White House discussed Chinese automotive partnerships. Ideas were pretty vague and included joint ventures majority-owned by Americans producing, presumably, Chinese-designed cars domestically.

The question that Barclays analyst Dan Levy pondered on Tuesday was, of course, why? Currently, Chinese auto makers are pressuring Europe with imports. They haven't entered the U.S. partly bec...