- Lawmakers oppose Chinese automakers building factories in the US.
- Trump has expressed support for foreign firms investing locally.
- China accuses the US of blocking fair access to its auto market.
While President Donald Trump has shown an unexpected openness to Chinese automakers building cars in the United States, three senators from the other side of the political spectrum have now joined Republican voices pushing to ensure that never happens.
Late last week, Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin, Elissa Slotkin, and Chuck Schumer urged the administration not to allow Chinese car companies to manufacture vehicles locally, noting this could severely harm American companies. China is none too pleased and has accused the US of engaging in “trade protectionism.”
Read: US Senator Calls Chinese Cars “Cancer,” Wants Permanent Ban
“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 senators wrote in a letter to Trump, first reported by Reuters.
They sent the letter to President Donald Trump following comments he made in January. Speaking at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump said that “if they [Chinese companies] want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great, I love that.”
Responding to Reuters about the letter from Baldwin, Slotkin, and Schumer, the White House said that “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.”
China’s Not Happy
Chinese car companies have effectively been banned from selling vehicles in the United States due to policies enacted by the Biden administration in early 2025. However, it appears the Trump administration is more open to Chinese companies coming to the US than ex-President Joe Biden was, particularly if it can help to reverse the trend of ongoing job losses in the manufacturing sector.
According to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, the US has “engaged in trade protectionism and set up obstacles, including discriminatory subsidy policies to obstruct access to the U.S. market by Chinese-made cars.”
