By Nora Eckert and David Shepardson
WARREN, Michigan/WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) – U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s administration does not plan any changes to a crackdown on vehicle hardware and software from China, which effectively bars Chinese cars from the U.S. market.
The rules were adopted in January 2025 under President Joe Biden, based on national security concerns linked to the ability of vehicles to collect sensitive data on American owners.
The rules imposed a sweeping ban on the use of key Chinese software and hardware in vehicles on American roads. The software prohibitions took effect in March, and those on hardware take effect n 2029.
“We don’t see any change in that — so it seems like it would probably be difficult for certain countries to establish new production here, given those sets of rules,” Greer said.
He said U.S. officials plan a video conference with Chinese officials to discuss “deliverables” for President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May but the auto sector is not on the agenda.
“We really coalesced around a handful of areas where we want to have outcomes, nothing really directly on the auto industry, specifically right now,” Greer said.
Lawmakers from both parties in Congress oppose letting Chinese automakers open plants in the U.S. In January, Trump said he was open to Chinese automakers building vehicles here.
“If they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great, I love that,” Trump told the Detroit Economic Club.
Last week, Democratic senators Tammy Baldwin, Elissa Slotkin and Chuck Schumer urged Trump to bar Chinese automakers from building vehicles in the U.S. and to prevent Chinese cars assembled in Mexico or Canada from entering the country.
“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 Trump first reported by Reuters.
Greer said it was unclear if Chinese vehicles operated by Canadian consumers could be driven across the border.
“I don’t know how that will be resolved,” Greer said.
The ban has the strong backing of major carmakers –including General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai — and other auto groups. Last month, auto trade groups representing nearly all major car companies urged the U.S. government to keep Chinese carmakers out of the country.
Last week, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno said he will propose legislation to seal off the U.S. so “there’s never a scenario where a Chinese automobile will enter our market, that’s hardware, that’s software, that’s partnerships.”
(Reporting by Nora Eckert in Warren, David Shepardson in Washington and David Lawder in Chicago; Editing by David Gregorio)
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