Senators urge Trump to bar Chinese carmakers from building vehicles in US
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BYD vehicles on the production line at the Chinese company's factory in Brazil.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Senators urge Trump to block Chinese automakers from building in the US due to national security and economic threats.
- Automakers support the ban, with concerns raised about data collection and unfair trade practices, requesting the US government intervene.
- The US government has been accused of trade protectionism, yet the White House denies compromising national security for investment.
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WASHINGTON – Three Democratic senators on April 3 urged President Donald Trump to bar Chinese carmakers from building vehicles in the US and to prevent Chinese cars assembled in Mexico or Canada from entering the US.
Senators Tammy Baldwin, Elissa Slotkin and Chuck Schumer cited Mr Trump’s comments in January in Detroit that he is open to Chinese carmakers building US factories.
Currently, high barriers already exist for Chinese vehicles in the US, including tariffs of around 100 per cent, but US consumers have become more interested in the vehicles, according to recent surveys.
“We must be clear-eyed that inviting China’s automakers to set up shop in the United States would confer an insurmountable economic advantage impossible for American automakers to overcome, and it would trigger a national security crisis that could never be reversed,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Mr Trump first reported by Reuters.
Asked for comment, the White House said “while the administration is always working to secure more investment into America’s industrial resurgence, any notion that we would ever compromise our national security to do so is baseless and false”.
In January, Mr Trump said he was open to Chinese carmakers building vehicles in the US.
“If they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbours, that’s great. I love that,” he had told the Detroit Economic Club.
The Biden administration imposed sweeping regulations that effectively ban Chinese carmakers from selling passenger vehicles in the US in January 2025, citing national security concerns linked to the ability of vehicles to collect sensitive data on American owners.
The ban has the strong backing of US carmakers and other motor vehicle groups.
In March, trade groups representing nearly all major car companies urged the US government to keep Chinese carmakers out of the country ahead of Mr Trump’s planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May.
Earlier this week, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio said he will propose legislation to seal off the US so “there’s never a scenario where a Chinese automobile will enter our market, that’s hardware, that’s software, that’s partnerships”.
“While a new plant opened by a Chinese automaker in the United States may create some assembly and temporary construction jobs, that small number of jobs will not make up for the lasting job loss,” the letter from Ms Slotkin, Ms Baldwin and Mr Schumer added.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment on April 3.
Earlier this week, the embassy said China’s door has been open to global car companies, but the US has “engaged in trade protectionism and set up obstacles including discriminatory subsidy policies to obstruct access to the US market by Chinese-made cars”.
The senators noted that, in February, carmaker BYD was among a group of companies briefly added to a list of Chinese firms allegedly aiding Beijing’s military.
“The administration should move without hesitation to designate BYD and other Chinese automakers as military-connected entities,” they wrote. REUTERS
