Chinese EVs Must Be Banned In America, Urges US Senator

Key Takeaways

Chair of Senate Banking Committee calls for ban on Chinese EVs in America due to threat to American auto industry.
Exclusion from tax incentives may not be enough of a deterrent to Chinese imports.
Chinese EVs are already flooding EU markets.

The chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, took to X to call for “a complete ban on Chinese electric vehicles in America.” These are the strongest and most direct comments relating to Chinese EVs that any American lawmaker in office has made to date. They come after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier this week on a trip to China that America would not allow Chinese imports to again flood the market in a repeat of the “China shock” of the early 2000s.

At present, no Chinese vehicles are sold in America, but this is mainly due to import tariffs, not because of an outright ban.

Lawmakers Fear Chinese Infiltration

At present, the Inflation Reduction Act excludes vehicles produced in or with materials from Foreign Entities of Concern, such as China, but that simply means that such vehicles would not be eligible for tax rebates, not that they would be banned from sale in America. President Biden has repeatedly come under fire for this, being accused of breaking World Trade Organization rules by excluding Chinese materials.

China’s Lynk & Co Coming To America With New EV

The vehicle will first go on sale in Europe late next year.

This doesn’t seem to be enough of a deterrent because just a few months ago, China’s state-owned Chery announced its intention to sell cars in America. For the record, Chery is unlikely to make that happen anytime soon because its partner, Huawei, is banned from doing business in America. However, not all Chinese automakers have the same associations.

Why Are Lawmakers Worried About China?

Besides the geopolitical tensions that mean connected Chinese products may pose security risks to American national security, letting Chinese EVs in would pose a big threat to the American domestic manufacturing economy. Ford admits China is winning the EV race, while Elon Musk says BYD, Aito, and Xpeng are Tesla’s biggest rivals – not traditional legacy automakers like GM and Volkswagen. That’s because, despite low pricing (supported by significant investments from the Chinese government), the latest generation of Chinese EVs is actually pretty good. Gone are the days when a Chinese vehicle could be discounted as a sub-par replica of what Europe, Japan, and America create. In Europe, this mix of style, substance, and reasonable pricing has meant that customers are buying them in droves. European Union lawmakers are working to combat this trend, and back home, our lawmakers would rather not get to that point.