Senator Elissa Slotkin has raised alarms that President Donald Trump may be negotiating U.S. market access for Chinese automakers as part of a broader agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Michigan Democrat made the claim on Wednesday, citing rumors of a deal ahead of an expected Xi visit to Washington in the coming weeks, though the White House has not confirmed any plans to lift existing tariffs or national-security restrictions.
“We hear rumors that Trump is planning to allow Chinese cars to be sold in the U.S., as part of a larger deal he’s putting together,” Slotkin posted on X, calling the move a “strategic mistake.”
Slotkin warned that such an arrangement would “irrevocably impact” the 1.2 million Michigan jobs directly or indirectly tied to the auto industry, as well as America’s broader manufacturing capacity.
She pointed to Germany as a cautionary example, noting that Chinese-owned automakers have captured around 8% of its market since entering in 2021, while Volkswagen moves to eliminate 50,000 jobs.
“The CCP is seeking global auto dominance, using the same playbook they have for decades: artificially keeping prices low through government subsidies, abusing weak international trade systems, and then undercutting domestic manufacturing to put it out of business,” Slotkin said.
Chinese EVs currently face a formidable wall of U.S. trade barriers, including a 100% additional Section 301 tariff introduced under the Biden administration in 2024, combined with a separate 25% tariff on imported passenger vehicles imposed by Trump in April 2025.
The Commerce Department also enacted rules in January 2025 restricting connected vehicles linked to Chinese or Russian software and hardware, with software limits applying from model year 2027 and hardware restrictions to follow.
Despite those barriers, Chinese brands are expanding aggressively in neighboring markets, with BYD preparing two models for Canada and reportedly planning six dealerships there, while Chinese-made vehicles already account for roughly one in five sales in Mexico.
BYD sold 2.26 million EVs in 2025, dwarfing Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA)’s 1.64 million deliveries, and any reduction in U.S. trade barriers could translate into significant pricing pressure for both Tesla and Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN).
Tesla faces particular complexity given its Shanghai manufacturing operations and direct competition with BYD inside China, where it previously halted Chinese orders for its U.S.-built Model S and Model X after Beijing raised tariffs during the 2025 trade dispute.
Trump has stopped short of backing imports of Chinese-made passenger cars outright, though in January he welcomed Chinese automakers willing to build factories in America, saying, “If they want to come in, and build the plant, and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great.”
Slotkin and Senator Bernie Moreno introduced the bipartisan Connected Vehicle Security Act in April, seeking to ban vehicles, software and hardware linked to entities with more than 15% Chinese ownership.
XPeng, Nio and Li Auto all maintain U.S. research or development operations, and XPeng Co-President Brian Gu stated in April that “the U.S. is definitely somewhere we have to look,” though none has announced an American retail launch.
The Trump administration is also scrutinizing U.S. automakers’ ties to China, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy criticizing Ford’s relationships with CATL, Geely and BYD this week.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for both TSLA and RIVN was reported as “bearish,” with Tesla seeing high message volume, while TSLA stock has risen 6% over the past year compared to a 15% advance for RIVN over the same period.
