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More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers are calling on President Donald Trump to maintain existing restrictions that effectively keep Chinese automakers and keep them out of the U.S. market ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Xi on Thursday in Washington, where they are expected to discuss their trade agreement, AI, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and other key geopolitical issues.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., is leading a group of 27 lawmakers in pressuring Trump to preserve the U.S. restrictions on Chinese cars and vehicle technology.
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“We urge you to maintain strong protections against Chinese automobiles and connected vehicle technologies and ensure that China does not gain access to our market through direct imports, local production, and other avenues of circumvention,” the lawmakers wrote.
Dingell also issued a video message on social media on Monday in which she said she is working to protect U.S. auto manufacturing and ensure Trump cannot “make any deal that allows China into our country where they’re categorically not competing on a level playing field.”
“The communist Chinese government subsidizes its production by more than 50% of the cost,” she said. “They manipulate their currency, they use slave labor and now they want a foot in the door of our domestic auto industry, and they will try to destroy it. This year already China has exported more than 6.2 million passenger vehicles from China. That exceeds their total passenger vehicle exports for all of 2025, and now they’re coming for North America. Our workers are the best workers in the world, and they can compete with anyone when the game isn’t rigged and the risks extend far beyond just economic competition.”
“Today’s vehicles are supercomputers that are moving and collecting and transmitting all kinds of data. You don’t even think about it when you’re an autonomous vehicle. They’re getting all the data that’s in your personal iPhones, your computers and they drive by military installations or other companies and they are collecting data. That’s a national security threat,” the lawmaker continued.
Dingell said she introduced bipartisan legislation that has the support of a hundred of her congressional colleagues to ban China from “destroying our auto industry.”
“That’s why I reacted so viscerally when I heard the president say he would let China manufacture vehicles in the United States,” she said.
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“Let me be very clear: it’s not okay. American workers need our protection from anyone who will use unfair practices, wants to destroy our jobs and raise costs for everyone. I will always stand with the American worker and the manufacturing industry in these countries to protect jobs, our economy and our national security,” Dingell said.
The congresswoman appeared to be referring to Trump telling Fox News earlier this month that he would accept Chinese auto companies building cars in the U.S.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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