(April 18): Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ruled out the possibility of Chinese investment in the US auto industry, saying there is no need for companies like electric carmaker BYD Co in America.
When asked during a fireside chat at a Semafor event in Washington on Friday whether a joint-venture factory by BYD is on the table, the commerce secretary gave a one-word answer — “no” — drawing laughter from the audience.
Lutnick later elaborated on the sidelines of the same event, noting the moderator’s question had specifically mentioned BYD. “We are not going to have them here,” he told Bloomberg News.
When pressed on the possibility of other Chinese companies investing in the US, the commerce secretary said, “Not cars, not cars.”
During recent trade talks between the US and China in Paris involving Jamieson Greer, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng, both sides discussed the creation of a board of trade and also touched on the formation of a board of investment.
That March meeting was intended to set the stage for a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which is expected to take place on May 14-15.
But earlier this month, Greer appeared to downplay the possibility of a broad investment push between the two countries. “I don’t think we are at the point in our relationship with the Chinese where we want to talk about the investment programmes either way,” the top US trade official said.
And last week, Greer made similar comments to Lutnick’s, saying restrictions on foreign technology will likely keep Chinese carmakers out of the US for the foreseeable future.
US automakers have also been warning about Chinese cars in the run-up to the Trump-Xi meeting. Leaders of five US auto industry groups wrote in a March letter that Beijing’s efforts to “dominate” the global auto industry and gain access to the US “pose a direct threat to America’s global competitiveness, national security, and automotive industrial base”.
Still, Trump has said he is open to the prospect of investments by the Asian nation in the American car industry. Speaking earlier this year in Detroit, he said that if Chinese automakers want to build plants in the US, he would “love that”.
