US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Thursday that Chinese automakers will struggle to establish a presence in the United States, as discussions about their potential entry via Canada continue to grow.
Greer said the challenge is driven by both market forces and national security rules, which the administration does not intend to change.
Speaking during a tour of the Stellantis Warren Truck Assembly Plant in Michigan, Greer said the Biden-era regulations banning certain Chinese vehicle software and hardware are working as intended.
“Those rules are effective,” he stated, noting that restrictions would likely apply even for Chinese automakers that set up production in America.
Additionally, “it seems like it would probably be difficult for certain countries to establish new production here, given those sets of rules,” Greer said.
The comments represent the clearest signal yet that the Trump administration intends to enforce, rather than soften, the connected vehicle restrictions finalized under President Biden in January 2025.
Those rules bar vehicles from using Chinese- or Russian-linked software and hardware, citing risks tied to data collection and potential remote access to vehicle systems.
The restrictions have the strong backing of US carmakers and industry groups, many of which have also opposed Canada’s recent trade agreement with China.
The 100% tariff on Chinese EVs — originally quadrupled under Biden — remains in place alongside the administration’s own broader tariff measures.
Greer’s Thursday comments suggest that even if those tariffs were eventually revisited, the connected vehicle rules would continue to function as an independent barrier to Chinese entry.
First Reaction
Greer called Canada’s Chinese EV trade deal “problematic” within hours of its announcement in January, warning that Ottawa may regret it “in the long run.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced earlier this year that Canada would allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs to enter the country each year, subject to a reduced tariff of 6.1%.
Visiting a Ford plant then, Greer said Chinese automakers would face significant hurdles complying with US cybersecurity rules because modern vehicles operate as “computers on wheels.”
His Thursday remarks go further — explicitly stating that those rules are not up for revision and would not be waived for Chinese companies manufacturing domestically.
Pressure on China Ban
At the same time, pressure to keep Chinese automakers out of the country has been building on both sides of the aisle.
Three Democratic senators — Tammy Baldwin, Elissa Slotkin and Chuck Schumer — last week urged Trump to block Chinese automakers from entering the US market entirely, whether through imports from other North American countries or by establishing domestic production.
The senators warned that allowing them in would create an economic advantage that American automakers could not overcome and a national security risk “that could never be reversed.”
Asked for comment, the White House said that “while the administration is always working to secure more investment into America’s industrial resurgence, any notion that we would ever compromise our national security to do so is baseless and false,” Reuters reported.
Canada’s Chinese EVs
Greer also commented a new question arising from Canada’s decision: whether Canadians driving Chinese vehicles should be allowed to cross into the United States.
US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said last week that Chinese vehicles entering Canada would not be permitted to reach the US.
Drawing on his experience chairing the US House Intelligence Committee, Hoekstra described Chinese-made vehicles as capable of consuming and collecting sensitive data.
He also warned that Chinese imports routed through Canada “ain’t going to happen.”
Greer took a more cautious tone, saying he did not have a “final answer” on how the situation would be handled.
He acknowledged the scenario is distinct from the broader question of Chinese vehicle sales and investment in the US.
“It’s just kind of personal use near the border, and I don’t know how that will be resolved,” he said.
Ottawa’s Take
The Canadian trade deal that prompted these discussions has itself undergone a political transformation in Ottawa.
Canada’s Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, as Innovation Minister, repeatedly pledged that Canada would “never” serve as a backdoor for Chinese EVs into North America.
Upon returning last week from a four-day trade mission to Beijing, he promoted deeper economic ties with the country whose vehicles he had spent 18 months trying to keep out.
The 100% surtax he helped design was replaced in January with the current quota arrangement.
The deal has drawn sustained opposition within Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has labeled Chinese EVs “spy vehicles.”
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has pledged to scrap the quota and ban Chinese-linked vehicle software to align with US cybersecurity rules as part of a broader plan to double the country’s vehicle production.
The Conservative Party’s auto pact was rejected in the House of Commons late last month.
Canada’s auto manufacturing lobby has also raised concerns about BYD’s labor practices, as the Chinese giant prepares to enter the country.
The comments came after reports of slavery-like conditions for workers on the company’s factories in Brazil and Hungary, adding a labor dimension to the national security and economic arguments against Chinese automakers on both sides of the border.
Concerns on BYD
BYD Executive VP Stella Li has recently told Bloomberg the company is considering building a plant in Canada but insisted on full ownership rather than a joint venture.
The Chinese giant is one of the major concerns for the US.
US senators had previously noted that BYD was among a group of companies briefly added to a list of Chinese firms allegedly aiding Beijing’s military.
“The Administration should move without hesitation to designate BYD and other Chinese automakers as military-connected entities,” the three Democratic senators wrote on the letter sent last week.
Several US auto executives have criticized BYD and other Chinese automakers for receiving heavy government subsidies.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said on multiple occasions last year that Chinese manufacturers pose the biggest competitive threat to the industry.
He has also said “there’s no real competition from Tesla, GM, or Ford with what we’ve seen from China.”
Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe has raised similar concerns, while also acknowledging technological innovations from companies such as BYD and Xiaomi.
EV Landscape
Greer’s comments came on the same day Volkswagen confirmed it will end production of the ID.4 at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant this month.
The German automaker is replacing its only US-made electric vehicle with the gas-powered 2027 Atlas.
Volkswagen said it is shifting Chattanooga toward higher-volume models to sustain growth in North America, citing an EV market that “continues to challenge the industry.”
The company said a future version of the ID.4 is planned for North America, but provided no timeline.
Trump’s country-specific import duties imposed last April reshaped automaker production strategies across the industry.
Additionally, the President’s “big, beautiful bill” signed in July 2025 eliminated the $7,500 federal EV tax credit at the end of September.
The cutback in EV incentives triggered a record third quarter as buyers rushed to secure incentives, followed by a collapse in the fourth.
US EV registrations in the first quarter of 2026 remained 28% below the same period a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive.
However, the ongoing Middle East conflict — which has spiked oil prices across the globe — has led to an increase in used EV sales in the United States during the first quarter.
The broader EV slowdown has already claimed several models, with Ford ending production of the F-150 Lightning late last year, for instance.
Automakers across the board have shifted investment toward hybrids and back to internal combustion engine (ICE) models.
