After the official hike China electric car import tax Earlier this month, the U.S. government got even more serious about blocking Chinese-made cars from entering the country. On Monday, the U.S. Commerce Department proposed a new rule that would ban some Chinese- and Russian-made automotive hardware and software from entering the United States, with the software restrictions taking effect in 2026.
The Biden administration said the move was necessary for national security reasons, given how central the technology is to today’s increasingly sophisticated vehicles. In announcing the proposed ban, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo citing the vehicle’s internet-connected cameras, microphones and GPS devices“It doesn’t take much imagination to understand why a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to national security as well as the privacy of U.S. citizens,” she said.
The US government’s move comes as China has dramatically increased the number of low-cost vehicles, especially electric vehicles, it produces and sells abroad. China’s auto exports are up more than 30 percent in the first half of this year alone, has raised alarm bells in Europe and the United States, where officials worry that cheap Chinese cars could crowd out domestic industries. The United States and Europe have moved to make it harder and more expensive for China to sell its cars in those regions, but Chinese automakers have responded by setting up production facilities in Eastern Europe, AfricaAnd Mexico—all of which could one day create loopholes that allow more Chinese-designed and -built vehicles to penetrate new Western markets.
The proposed regulation, however, focuses on security rather than competition. Raimondo has previously raised concerns Foreign actors using stolen connected car technology causing chaos on US public roads. “Imagine if there were thousands or hundreds of thousands of Chinese connected vehicles on US roads that could be disabled instantly and simultaneously by someone in Beijing,” she said in February.
That scenario is not realistic, given that few Chinese and Russian companies currently supply automotive software or hardware in the United States. A proposed software and hardware ban is more of a precaution than a response to any immediate security risks, said Steve Man, director of global automotive research at Bloomberg Intelligence, a research and consulting firm. “Chinese and Russian automakers are not currently significant players in the U.S. auto market, and U.S. drivers are safe,” a senior Biden administration official told WIRED.
Because the rule would apply to any connected vehicle, not just electric vehicles, it would create an even more stringent ban on Chinese-made auto technology. “If a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles made in China is a wall, then the proposed ban on connected vehicles would be a death sentence for China EV Inc. looking to enter the United States,” said Lei Xing, former editor-in-chief at China Auto Review and an independent analyst. Under such a rule, he said, the prospects of seeing Chinese electric vehicles sold in the United States in the next decade are “virtually zero.”
