Senate punts bill to permanently ban Chinese cars until after midterm elections

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation to permanently ban the sale of Chinese vehicles in the United States stalled out on Wednesday as senators struggled to seal an agreement, virtually guaranteeing that the bill will have to wait until after the November elections.

The bipartisan bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, aims to prevent China’s auto industry from gaining a foothold in the U.S. market. It would ban the import, manufacture and sale of internet-connected vehicles, software and hardware linked to China or other foreign adversaries, including Russia and North Korea.

Chinese automakers are already effectively banned from selling or building vehicles in the U.S. under a policy put into place by the Biden administration, but senators are hoping to more permanently shut the door.

The summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump in Washington last week, which focused in part on trade between the world’s two largest economies, had given the legislation renewed momentum. Slotkin said nearly every senator was prepared to support it, and they had initially planned to seek passage last week without a formal roll call vote.

Senators delayed action to continue negotiations with the lone holdout, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who argued the legislation could unfairly sweep in Mercedes-Benz. The bill would bar vehicles made by companies with more than a 15% ownership stake from Chinese entities. Mercedes-Benz has nearly 20% passive Chinese ownership.

Supporters say they will try again after the elections. But the delay is a setback for bipartisan legislation that has drawn support from automakers and labor unions as Washington grapples with the growing global reach of China’s auto industry — and concerns about potential surveillance technology.

“It is literally a driving spy machine on wheels,” Slotkin said of Chinese vehicles. “All of that data and all of that information goes back to Beijing.”

Lawmakers see threat from Chinese EVs

Lawmakers and analysts have warned of dire consequences if Chinese EVs should become available in the U.S.

“I am concerned about what can happen to the U.S. automobile industry with the Chinese electric vehicles,” said Republican Sen. Steve Daines in an interview with The Associated Press before the Trump-Xi summit. “They are remarkable, high quality at a much lower cost. But it’s not fair if you have a product that is significantly subsidized by a government to be able to come into our market.”

Chinese automakers have expanded rapidly overseas, competing aggressively on price and technology and putting pressure on established manufacturers in Europe and other markets. In the first eight months of this year, China’s exports of new-energy vehicles more than doubled from the previous year, shipping out more than 3.4 million vehicles, according to China Association of Automobile Manufactures.

Chinese automakers supplied 60% of global electric car sales in 2025, while European and North American automakers were each responsible for about 15% of global sales, according to IEA, or the International Energy Agency.

Their emergence has raised concerns in Detroit that allowing them into the U.S. could expose domestic automakers to a new source of lower-cost competition.

Trump, however, has at times taken a more welcoming approach to Chinese investment in the U.S. auto industry. Speaking at the Detroit Economic Club in January, he said he was open to Chinese automakers building factories in the United States as long as they employed 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. I love that,” Trump said. “Let China come in.”

That position has put Trump at odds with an unusual coalition of lawmakers, automakers and labor unions that has pushed to keep Chinese vehicles out of the U.S. market.

In April 2026, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said “no” when he was asked if Chinese EV makers such as BYD would come and set up joint ventures in the U.S.

But in early September, before he hosted China’s Xi, Trump again said he would not oppose Chinese automakers building ​cars in the United States.

The White House didn’t respond to a request by AP regarding its stance on the bill.

What the bill would do

Slotkin and Moreno have framed their legislation around two threats: protecting the U.S. auto industry from heavily subsidized Chinese competitors and preventing technology embedded in connected vehicles from collecting sensitive data on Americans.

In July, Slotkin called Chinese cars “surveillance packages on wheels,” arguing that they could collect information on American drivers and sensitive sites and transmit it to Beijing. Moreno has said China’s auto industry “was built to destroy American manufacturing, gut the middle class, and undermine our national security.”

The bill would prohibit the import, manufacture, sale, resale or introduction into interstate commerce of connected vehicles and related software and hardware associated with China, Russia, Iran or North Korea. It would effectively write into law and expand restrictions that began under the Biden administration, making it harder for a future administration to reverse them.

But some are concerned that the 15% ownership cap could hurt companies with strong roots in the United States.

“We’re not going to have the president of the United States sign a bill — nor would he — that bans Mercedes-Benz from the United States of America,” said Moreno, also mentioning companies like Volvo. “We have to figure out a way to manage all of that.”

James Lewis, a distinguished fellow with the tech policy program at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said the bill could return after the midterm elections, given the threat that Chinese carmakers pose to U.S. companies.

“China can make enough cars in a single year to supply the entire global demand. You don’t need any other countries to make cars with China in the picture,” Lewis said. “This is existential for the car companies.”

“Car companies care a lot. They’re very influential,” he said. “They’re deeply concerned about this.”