2024 saw major resistance to the burgeoning Chinese car industry from Western governments, including the United States. Shortly after a 100 percent tariff on Chinese-made EVs went into effect last year, President Joe Biden proposed a ban on Chinese software and hardware in vehicles. According to Reuters, plans are in place for those bans to go into effect next week, right before new management takes over the White House.
“We wanted to hear from industry. We had to get it right. We digested all of that comment, and now we’re going to get this out,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in an interview. “It’s really important because we don’t want two million Chinese cars on the road and then realize… we have a threat.”
The Biden administration’s proposal last year called for software prohibitions effective in the 2027 model year, and the hardware ban would kick in in 2029. The bans are ostensibly motivated by national security concerns and would effectively ban Chinese cars from the U.S. entirely.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which includes GM, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and others, sought at least one extra year to meet the hardware requirement back in October. The Consumer Technology Association and Honda both suggested extending both deadlines by two years to “conduct crucial testing, validations, and updating of necessary contracts.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, who begins his second term on January 20th, intends to prevent Chinese car imports but is open to Chinese firms building cars in the States. “We’re going to give incentives, and if China and other countries want to come here and sell the cars, they’re going to build plants here, and they’re going to hire our workers,” Trump told Reuters.
As for the rest of the North American auto market, automakers were pushing Canada last year to follow suit by banning Chinese software and hardware in vehicles. Canada seemed open to the idea at the time, with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland saying, “Our government takes very seriously intentional Chinese overcapacity, and we take very seriously the security threat from China.”
Comments
Good! We have enough car makes here and too many imported and too many parts imported. Absolutely ridiculous that the second largest auto market in the world imports so much stuff. And if Buick wants to sell the Envision here, then build it here! It’s related to other CUVs sold here.
The Envision probably uses the same software the Enclave uses.
Interesting. I remember awhile ago them doing the same thing with trains. The CTA replaced their aging rolling stock on the Blue line with trains made by CRRC, a state-owned company (WTF were they thinking?) But because they couldn’t use Chinese software and the train cars were made in Chicago they were still allowed to be used. A similar situation happened with the Boston MBTA trains involving the same company. I wonder if we will see a similar situation play out with cars where if the Chinese really want to sell here, they will still build them here but will run a Google based software or partner up with a local brand for just the software utilization?
don’t buy anything with the word ‘china’ on it.