The topic of Chinese car companies have dominated headlines in recent weeks, arguably culminating in President Donald Trump's comments on Sept. 11 that he would be OK with Chinese automakers building cars in the United States, a comment that raised eyebrows across the auto industry in the Motor City.
Up until now, the most vocal to refute to Trump's comments has come from UAW International President Shawn Fain and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Sept. 15.
So the Detroit Free Press reached out to the Detroit Three for their thoughts; they deferred to their Washington lobbying group to speak for them about the president's comments.
How reactions rolled out
El-Sayed characterized Trump's statement as a "huge capitulation."
"If I'm the Big Three right now,
I'm pissed off as hell at Donald Trump," El-Sayed said at a news conference after giving a 20-minute speech to the UAW's 2026 Michigan Community Action Program (CAP) Conference in Lansing. "He just pulled the rug out from underneath them."
Fain added that Trump's Sept. 11 remarks on Fox News are "a slap in the face to America." He called it a national security issue to allow China to build cars in the U.S., saying that "we shouldn't be doing business with countries that basically want slave labor."
Later on Sept. 15, General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis all declined to comment. They referred the Detroit Free Press to the American Automotive Policy Council, a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents the common public policy interests of the Detroit automakers.
The AAPC did not mince words in the statement it sent to the Detroit Free Press on the evening of Sept. 15. It said that allowing Chinese carmakers to build or sell their cars in the United States would hurt the domestic auto industry and all the jobs and economies attached to it.
“American Automakers have long championed policies that protect American manufacturing and support a level playing field for the U.S. auto sector," American Automotive Policy Council President Matt Blunt said in the statement. "Allowing Chinese manufacturers to sell foreign-made vehicles here or build cars in the U.S. that benefit from Chinese industrial policy, without addressing the imbalance created by state subsidies, currency manipulation, and non-market advantages, would harm American Automakers, their employees, their communities, and the competitiveness of the domestic auto industry."
Why the Chinese want to come here
High tariffs on imported Chinese-made cars, put in place by former President Joe Biden and kept there by Trump, keep the sales of Chinese cars offshore, for now.
U.S. Sens. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Elissa Slotkin, D-Michigan, want to keep it that way. The two introduced legislation to prohibit the sale of vehicles or connected software and hardware made by companies with significant links to China or other countries of concern, which was advanced by a U.S. Senate committee.
But the huge auto market in China is saturated, so Chinese automakers such as Geely, BYD, Chery and others must expand to other markets globally for continued growth. The Chinese carmakers are known for producing high-tech, hot-designed cars with luxury amenities that are sold at much lower prices than non-Chinese competitors because the Chinese goverment subsidizes the carmakers' production costs.
Ford CEO Jim Farley famously drove a Xiaomi SU7 full-size hatchback sedan, for many months as his personal car. He described the vehicle last fall in an interview as "high quality, great digital experience." He said he drives the Chinese car because "they're the competition and to beat them, you have to know them."
As the Detroit Free Press reported in January, Canada is lowering its tariffs on Chinese cars and will soon allow a limited number of the vehicles to be sold there. Mexico has allowed the sale of Chinese cars since 2020 and the Chinese brands now comprise 20% of the nation's total car sales. According to AlixPartners, Chinese car brands are expected to comprise 30% of the global new vehicle market by 2030.
Sen. Moreno: 'Cracking down hard on China's predatory practices'
One U.S. automaker that has formed alliances with a couple of Chinese companies has been Ford.
Ford is partnered with CATL in its development of electric vehicle batteries and battery energy storage systems. In July, Ford announced it and Geely Automobile Holdings, based in Hangzhou, China, agreed to form a Europe-focused joint venture at Ford’s factory in Valencia, Spain, where Ford makes the Ford Kuga, a small SUV sold in European and global markets.
Those alliances were enough to stoke the ire of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy on Tuesday, Sept. 8, who sent a letter to Ford expressing concern over Ford's relationships with Chinese companies and his dismay over Ford's lengthy timeline for bringing production of the Lincoln Nautilus from China to the United States.
Duffy said the administration recognizes there is intense global competition. However, Ford's recent decisions "paint a troubling picture of a foundational American brand actively intertwining its future with Chinese state-backed enterprises" and the government is "deeply alarmed by Ford's continued reliance on licensed technology from Chinese battery manufacturer CATL at the operational BlueOval Battery Park facility in Marshall, Michigan."
In a written response sent to the Detroit Free Press by Ford spokesman Mark Truby on Sept. 8, Ford characterized Duffy’s note as "a wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines at the expense of a company that has done more for American manufacturing than virtually any other in the nation’s history."
The next day, Ford leaders told the Detroit Free Press the Duffy letter blindsided them because Ford has had an open dialogue with the White House. The White House, then posted a pro-Ford public position on the social media platform X, calling Ford "a GREAT American company" that "has done a tremendous job on increasing investments domestically and shoring production back to the U.S."
But when the Detroit Free Press asked Moreno his thoughts on Duffy's letter, his emailed response was: "After years of failed leadership at (the Department of Transportation), Secretary Duffy is the real deal: a partner in bringing auto manufacturing back to America and cracking down hard on China’s predatory practices. There’s no better leader for working Americans and I’m proud to call him a friend.“
Canada could get Chinese factories first
It is unclear from Trump's comments whether or not he would address the imbalances the AAPC's Blunt outlined if the U.S. were to allow Chinese car factories here.
According to a Reuters report, Trump's exact comments were, "If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I'd be OK 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.
In the midst of all these comments, Trump started a trade war with Canada. As part of it, he has threatened to raise U.S. tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles and auto parts from 25% to 50% starting Jan. 1, 2027. If Trump follows through on the threat, it could change the game with the Chinese carmakers entirely, said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at Telemetry.
"As for Canada-U.S. trade, if Trump tries further escalation, I can see Canada cranking up tariffs on U.S.-built vehicles and opening up to more Chinese products as well as accelerating plans to get Chinese plants in Canada," Abuelsamid said.
Staff reporters Jackie Charniga and Liam Rappleye contributed to this report.
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA TODAY Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit 3 react to Trump comment about China making cars in U.S.
