Lawmakers Race To Make Chinese Car Ban Permanent Before Congress Runs Out Of Time

Time is running out for a bipartisan bill to ban Chinese cars from the U.S. to be passed in the Senate before a new Congress is sworn in.

While the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on July 22 advanced the Connected Vehicle Security Act introduced by Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno and Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, the full chamber has yet to vote on it. Automakers have pressed lawmakers to enact a ban before the current Congress ends, John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, wrote in a Monday blog post.

“Given the obvious national security risk and China’s pattern of unfair behavior, Congress should protect our defense and advanced manufacturing base and stop Chinese automakers from doing here what they’ve gotten away with in Europe,” he wrote.

“Senator Moreno continues productive talks with colleagues and industry partners during the Senate recess and aims to finalize the product,” Reagan McCarthy, a spokesperson for Moreno, said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Chinese connected vehicles are a national security threat and would ruin our country’s manufacturing base. That is why Congress must pass Chairman Moolenaar’s bipartisan Connected Vehicle Security Act,” a spokesperson for the House Select Committee on China, which Republican Michigan Rep. John Moolenaar currently chairs, also said in a statement to the DCNF. “The bill has more than 140 cosponsors and we continue to work with leaders in the House and Senate to pass it as soon as possible.”

The Senate is expected to reconvene 3 p.m. Nov. 9. At the time of writing, 57 senators have signed on as cosponsors of the bill, 36 Republicans and 21 Democrats. If the bill does not pass before the current Congress ends Jan. 3, 2027, its sponsors will have to restart the legislative process in a new Congress featuring Democratic majorities in both chambers.

Starting Jan. 1, 2027, the version of the bill stuck in committee would outlaw importing, building, or selling wirelessly connected cars and light trucks primarily designed, developed, made in, or supplied from North Korea, China, Russia, or Iran.

The proposed ban also covers automakers in which either those countries, or people and companies tied to them, own or control more than 15 percent, the text states.

Software from those four countries would be barred starting with 2027 vehicle models while their connectivity hardware from would be banned from 2030 on. The commerce secretary, however, could still approve exceptions.

“Legislation is needed to ensure that there are safeguards to defend U.S. national security, ensure a fair competitive market, and to protect American workers,” Will Chou, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said in a statement to the DCNF.

“The national security and economic threat posed by Chinese-made automobiles is one of the rare issues on which there is overwhelming bipartisan agreement,” Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul also said in a statement to the DCNF. “Congress must pass a full-strength bill as quickly as possible to ensure that President Trump doesn’t welcome in Chinese companies looking to set up shop in America.”

The Commerce Department, the Chinese Embassy, the office of Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and Mercedes-Benz USA did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

Moreno said on the Senate floor Sept. 24 that he was “confident and hopeful” he could return the following week with Slotkin to pass the bill. His colleagues, however, held off on plans to pass it without a roll-call vote so they could keep negotiating with Rand Paul, who argued that the bill could unfairly ensnare Mercedes-Benz, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Chinese investors notably own nearly 20 percent of the German automaker through passive stakes, according to the outlet.

“We’re not going to have the president of the United States sign a bill — nor would he — that bans Mercedes-Benz from the United States of America,” Moreno said, according to AP.

Supporters said they planned another push after the midterms, the outlet reported.

China is “capturing market share in Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, Mexico and South America,” Bozzella wrote in a Sept. 3 letter to congressional leaders. “This hasn’t happened inside the U.S. yet.”

The European Union imported over 1.1 million vehicles shipped from China between January and August, more than in all of 2025, Bozzella wrote Monday, citing the Association of European Vehicle Logistics.

Chinese automakers accounted for 7.8 percent of Europe’s new-vehicle market in 2025, compared with 1.7 percent about a decade earlier, Bozzella added, citing Omdia data.

Chinese experts fired back at the automakers Tuesday in the state-run Global Times.

“The Alliance’s push is essentially about blocking low-priced, high-value competitors from entering the market — economic protectionism, not a national security concern,” He Weiwen of the Center for China and Globalization told the outlet. He went on to claim no public evidence has ever backed the surveillance allegation.

Hudson’s Chou said that Beijing could punish companies and countries complying with a U.S. ban by limiting their access to critical minerals.

“Long term, what China is trying to do is to capture overseas markets so it can export its way out of its weak domestic economy,” Chou observed.

“The Connected Vehicle Security Act is crucial to protect American jobs, national security, and the future of American manufacturing,” Moolenaar and Democratic Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell said in a joint statement after the Senate committee vote.

Moolenaar and Dingell introduced a companion House version May 11. At the time of writing, it has 146 cosponsors — 81 Republicans and 65 Democrats — but remains in the three congressional committees that received it for review.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee separately voted 48-1 on May 21 to advance a broader auto bill, the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act. An amendment before the committee would bar automakers “controlled by a foreign adversary” from making, selling or importing vehicles in the country. Some companies that already build vehicles here would be exempt.

A Biden-era Commerce Department rule, finalized in January 2025, bars Chinese and Russian software from connected cars starting with the 2027 model year as well as hardware beginning with 2030 models, according to the Federal Register. Automakers tied to either country cannot sell those cars in the U.S. under the rule.

Chou called the rule “robust,” but said that a future administration could enforce it differently.

“Rules, no matter how well-intended or comprehensive, can be rewritten with the stroke of a pen,” the House Select Committee on China spokesperson said.

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