By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Friday he would not oppose Chinese automakers building cars in the United States despite widespread opposition from U.S. lawmakers and car companies.
“If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I’d be okay with that,” Trump said in an interview on the Fox News program “The Ingraham Angle.”
“Japan does it, but they hire our people. The big thing is they hire our people,” he said.
He added that he does not want Chinese automakers to build cars in Mexico and ship them to the United States. “I’m not knocking Chinese cars,” Trump said.
U.S. automakers have urged Trump, who is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington in two weeks, not to agree to allow Chinese automakers access to the U.S. market.
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said there were “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. That would be a strategic mistake.”
Trump called Slotkin’s statement a “total phony rumor” and said he had kept Chinese vehicles out of the United States.
A regulation imposed by former President Joe Biden’s administration in early 2025 effectively bans all Chinese automakers from selling or building passenger vehicles in the U.S. Washington also maintains more than 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
Last week, a group representing nearly all major automakers urged Congress to quickly pass legislation permanently barring Chinese vehicles from the U.S. market.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Honda, Stellantis and others, called for passage of the bill by the end of December.
“Right now, Chinese automakers are dumping subsidized vehicles with connected software and hardware around the world,” the group’s CEO, John Bozzella, said in a letter to congressional leaders.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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