WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – The auto industry in America accounts for close to 11 million jobs. And for many powerful voices in the industry, there are concerns that those jobs could be put in jeopardy if China is allowed to sell their cars in the U.S.
Its a concern Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed on the Senate Floor last week, “Donald Trump could sell out American autoworkers by allowing Chinese EVs to flood our markets and crowd out domestic manufacturing.
Less than a week after President Donald Trump traveled with several major executives to China, his Vice President JD Vance did not rule out Chinese cars being sold in the U.S.
Not only are Chinese cars generally cheaper than their American competitors, there are also concerns about the national security threat of Chinese-made high-tech vehicles.
That led Gray Media’s White House corerspondent Jon Decker to ask this question to Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday in the White House Briefing Room.
Jon Decker, White House Correspondent:
“On China, you come from a state that manufactures a lot of automobiles. Is it your sense that within this term that you have with the president that China branded vehicles will be sold right here in America?”
Vice President JD Vance:
“Well, I think that what the president has shown a willingness to do, unlike any president in my lifetime, is to protect the American automotive industry. We are not going to let the American automotive industry disappear. There are a lot of ways in which we’ve reinvested and which we’ve tariff to foreign competitors to ensure that American car workers, American auto workers, and the products they develop are going to be made right here in the United States of America and also available right here in the United States of America.”
Ahead of President Donald Trump’s trip to China, Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) called on the President to crack down on the manufacture, sale, or operation of Chinese vehicles on U.S. soil.
“So we’re not going to let that happen to the American auto industry. So many of our jobs, I mean, we estimate that if Chinese vehicles were just sold openly in the United States, we’d lose something like 400,000 jobs. And I just I’m not going to do that.”
Slotkin and other lawmakers from auto manufacturing states say allowing China to build and sell vehicles in the U.S. would have far-reaching consequences for America’s economic and national security. They’ve written to the White House, expressing their concerns.
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