Dingell, Democrats urge Trump to keep Chinese autos out of US market

WASHINGTON - Ahead of a key U.S.-China meeting, several efforts are brewing on Capitol Hill to urge President Donald Trump to bar Chinese automakers from accessing the U.S. market.

One of those efforts, led by U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, entered the public eye Tuesday as she announced a letter from 73 House Democrats on the topic some two weeks ahead of Trump's anticipated talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

"As you prepare for your upcoming summit with the President of the People's Republic of China, any effort to lower barriers for Chinese automobiles or otherwise facilitate their entry into the U.S. market would pose a direct threat to American manufacturing, workers, and national security," the letter states. "This must remain a firm and non-negotiable priority."

There is a similar effort brewing among House Republicans; a forthcoming legislative proposal by U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno to solidify a ban on Chinese autos; and a letter already sent to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week by Moreno and other Republican senators, according to Politico.

The missives come as concerns have deepened in Washington, Detroit and elsewhere in the U.S. automotive heartland over the growing global power of China's auto industry, especially after Canada reached a new trade deal allowing the import and sale of a set number of Chinese electric vehicles.

"China, which subsidizes its manufacturing, manipulates its currency, and uses slave labor, among other things, cannot be allowed in. We have to play on a level playing field," Dingell told The Detroit News in a Capitol Hill interview. The Ann Arbor Democrat is a longtime voice for the auto industry in Washington.

"We owe our workers that level playing field. And China being allowed to manufacture in this country is not a level playing field," she added.

The White House, reached for comment Tuesday, dismissed the outcry from Dingell and Democrats. "While the Administration is always seeking more investment into America's industrial resurgence, any notion that we would ever compromise our national security is baseless and false," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

The handwringing by some U.S. politicians over Chinese vehicles is also happening while the Beijing Auto Show plays out across the globe. The event so far has been a revelatory showcase of how impressive some Chinese models have become while keeping affordable price tags.

"China's domestic car market is on the cusp of an involution, with vehicle prices down by a fifth over the past two years," AlixPartners LLP auto analyst Dan Hearsch wrote last week in conjunction with a report suggesting that Chinese automakers plan to almost triple overseas production by 2030.

"But Chinese auto companies' cost and speed remain world class," he added, "and overseas rivals have to respond with a ruthless approach to product attributes that the customer really, truly cares about - while being ‘good enough' on things the customer doesn't care about or see."

Industry-wide concern over Chinese access

No Republicans signed on to the Democratic congresswoman's letter, though there is bipartisan worry from lawmakers over Chinese autos. Moreno, an Ohio Republican, is expected to introduce a bill in the coming days seeking to ban Chinese automakers from selling in the U.S. market, though details of the proposal remain unclear.

That goal from Moreno and other Republicans may be complicated by Trump's past statements about the prospects of allowing Chinese car and truckmakers to set up shop stateside.

The president has repeatedly signaled an openness to allowing Chinese automakers to sell vehicles in the United States, so long as they build U.S. factories and employ American workers.

"If they want to come in, and build the plant, and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that's great," Trump told the Detroit Economic Club in January. "I love that. Let China come in. Let Japan come in. They are, and they'll be building plants, but they're using our labor."

Leaders in the U.S. auto industry, like Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley, have warned of such an outcome.

Allowing Chinese automakers into the rich U.S. market would be "devastating," he told Fox & Friends in April. "We should not let them into our country. Manufacturing is the heart and soul of our country, and for us to lose that to those exports would be devastating to our country."

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the U.S. auto industry's top lobbying group, has also consistently opposed allowing Chinese brands to make or sell vehicles in the United States.

The Alliance "urges Congress and the Trump Administration to prevent Chinese government-backed auto and advanced battery manufacturers from gaining entry to manufacture here in the U.S., and we look forward to working with Congress to counter China's influence and global strategy," the group's president and CEO, John Bozzella, said in written testimony to a U.S. House committee last year.

He added: "China poses a clear and present threat to the auto industry in the U.S. ... The competitiveness of the domestic auto industry and its workers will be damaged if Chinese automakers and battery manufacturers are allowed to do in the U.S. what they have already been permitted to do around the world."

Barriers already exist for Chinese autos seeking U.S. entry

Some China-built models are already sold stateside, but they account for less than 1% of annual U.S. new vehicle sales and come exclusively from American and European brands.

Those brands include General Motors Co.'s Buick, Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln and Volvo Cars, in which Chinese auto giant Geely Holding owns a controlling stake. Luxury EV-maker Polestar, partially owned by Geely and Volvo, also sells China-made vehicles.

No cars or trucks with Chinese nameplates are currently sold in the United States, in large part thanks to existing barriers meant to keep out the likes of BYD Co., SAIC Motor and Geely, among others.

Prior efforts to keep China at bay in the U.S. autos sector have included tariffs levied on Chinese automotive goods during President Donald Trump's first term, a Biden-era Commerce Department rule that banned the import and sale of passenger vehicles containing internet-connected technology from China, additional Biden-era tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and batteries, and multiple bills in Congress.

Some of those bills have come from Michigan members of Congress, like U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Caledonia; Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham; and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly.

Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, led a successful effort to ban certain China-linked firms from receiving U.S. clean energy tax credits as part of last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Stevens has introduced bills meant to enforce tariffs against Chinese vehicles produced in other nations and to boost domestic production of critical minerals.

Slotkin's first bill as a member of the U.S. Senate last year aimed to prevent Chinese vehicles from entering the United States by establishing a national security review process for imports of internet-connected vehicles and components made by companies from China or other countries of concern.

"I will lay down on the border to keep Chinese vehicles from entering the U.S. market. This is my first bill I'm introducing in the Senate, and it's for a reason," Slotkin in a 2025 statement after introducing the bill.

Details of letter from Dingell, Democrats

Other signatories on the Democrats' Tuesday letter to Trump included California Rep. Ro Kanna, who is the party's ranking member on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party; Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who represents the heavily automotive Toledo area; and four additional Michigan representatives.

Those representatives are Haley Stevens of Birmingham, Kristen McDonald Rivet of Bay City, Hillary Scholten of Grand Rapids and Shri Thanedar of Detroit.

The letter states that the Chinese auto industry "does not compete on a level playing field" with the rest of the world and is "driven by a state-directed strategy to dominate global markets through government subsidies, below-market financing, and non-market behavior across the supply chain."

It continues: "In 2025, China exported more than 8 million vehicles. Chinese brands now account for roughly 62 percent of the global electric vehicle market. Their vehicles, which are heavily subsidized and often priced far below market rates, are rapidly expanding across South America, the Middle East, Europe, and other emerging markets, capturing market share and reshaping the global auto industry."

The letter also suggests that China is "actively positioning itself to bypass U.S. trade protections" by building its presence in Canada and Mexico and recommends a suite of actions to keep Chinese automakers out of the United States, including tariffs, bans and cooperation with U.S. allies.

"We must not cede the American auto industry to a strategic competitor intent on global dominance," the letter concludes. "The consequences for American workers, our supply chains, our national security, and our communities would be profound and irreversible."

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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 3:17 PM.