Trump says he would allow Chinese automakers to build cars in US

President Trump said Friday he would permit Chinese automakers to move manufacturing to the U.S. over the protest of American automakers.

“If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I’d be OK with it,” the president told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle.”

“Japan does it, but they hire our people,” he continued. “The big thing is they hire our people.”

The president’s comment comes ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, D.C., in two weeks. The Chinese leader is expected to bring a large business delegation with him during this visit, Reuters reported .

Trump touted his “very good relationship” with Jinping ahead of this bilateral summit, telling Ingraham the meeting will “be interesting.”

“People say, ‘Oh, he spies on us.’ Well, we spy on him too,” the president said. “We’re very good at it also, so we get along.”

Former President Biden imposed a regulation in 2025 that effectively bans Chinese automakers from selling or manufacturing passenger vehicles in the U.S. Additionally, the U.S. has over 100 percent tariffs in place on Chinese electric vehicles.

Last week, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade organization representing all major American automakers, asked congressional leaders in a letter to place a “permanent ban” on Chinese-made cars in the U.S.

“Enacting a permanent ban on Chinese vehicles and high-risk hardware and software in the 119th Congress will send a clear and bipartisan message that China’s strategy to dominate global automotive manufacturing will be met with a national security policy response from the American government,” wrote the group’s President and CEO John Bozzella.

In July, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved legislation that would ban companies from the U.S. market with over 15 percent Chinese ownership.

A similar House bill introduced earlier this year would bar the importation, manufacturing and sale of connected vehicles and vehicle software from a foreign adversary.