Catenaa, Thursday, September 03, 2026- US automakers urged congressional leaders on Thursday to permanently ban the domestic sale, import, and manufacturing of Chinese connected vehicles.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, whose members account for the vast majority of US vehicle sales, wrote to congressional leaders urging action before the session wraps up.
Midterm elections in November could affect Congress’ momentum on the issue, the group noted.
“Right now, Chinese automakers are dumping subsidized vehicles with connected software and hardware around the world,” John Bozzella, CEO of the alliance, said in the letter. “This hasn’t happened inside the US yet, but given the scale and urgency of this threat, we urge you to enact a Chinese vehicle, software and hardware ban before adjourning this year and make this policy the law of the land.”
The push comes as legislators on both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate work on measures targeting Chinese vehicles, among them a Senate Commerce Committee bill that would effectively shut Mercedes-Benz out of the US market given that Chinese investors own close to a fifth of the German automaker.
Mercedes-Benz is a member of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and Bozzella said the group wants to work with lawmakers to “achieve a balanced policy so all our member companies continue to succeed and thrive inside the US”
The industry has raised alarms that Chinese competitors such as BYD and Geely are saturating global markets with lower-cost vehicles, squeezing prices and threatening domestic production.
Both have steadily grown their sales footprint in Europe as well as Central and South America.
“Enacting a permanent ban on Chinese vehicles and high-risk hardware and software in the 119th Congress will send a clear and bipartisan message that China’s strategy to dominate global automotive manufacturing will be met with a national security policy response from the American government,” Bozzella said in the letter.
The competitive pressure from Chinese electric vehicle makers has reverberated across the industry.
Honda, for example, has been instructing suppliers to cut costs as part of a plan to save $9.4 billion by 2030, with the scale of the effort reflecting pressure from BYD and other Chinese EV makers that have eroded competitors’ positions in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe through lower pricing, battery technology, and software capabilities.
