Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said Monday that Chinese-connected vehicles pose both an economic and national security threat because they can collect video, 3D mapping and geolocation data that could be sent back to Beijing.
Slotkin Warns Of Surveillance On Wheels
In a post on X, Slotkin wrote, “Chinese cars have video, 3D mapping, and geolocation capabilities – and all of that data is sent back to Beijing. It’s like a driving surveillance package. That is a risk to both our economic and national security.”
Her warning comes as President Donald Trump prepares for a May 14-15 summit in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a meeting that is already stirring concern in Congress over whether trade or investment concessions could affect the auto industry.
Slotkin also posted a clip from her weekly “Intel Briefing,” in which she said that mixed messages from the Trump administration about allowing Chinese cars or Chinese joint ventures into the United States should alarm Americans, especially in Michigan.
Michigan Lawmaker Targets Chinese Auto Entry
She argued that Chinese brands such as BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) are “gobbling up market share” in Europe and South America and said connected vehicles can “hoover up” sensitive information about military bases, infrastructure and cities through sensors, cameras and mapping systems. For that reason, she called them a “driving surveillance package” and “TikTok on wheels,” saying lawmakers should not “give away the farm” ahead of the Trump-Xi summit.
Earlier this month, Slotkin’s office said she introduced the Connected Vehicle National Security Review Act, which would give the Commerce Department more explicit authority to block connected vehicles or components that pose national security risks.
Push To Block Chinese Cars Widens
Slotkin, a former CIA officer who later served in national security roles at the Pentagon under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, has made the issue a signature concern since entering the Senate.
She had already warned this month that inviting Chinese automakers to manufacture in the United States would hurt Michigan and the broader U.S. economy, arguing that Beijing’s state subsidies make the vehicles artificially cheap. That critique directly targets Trump’s January remarks at the Detroit Economic Club, where he said of Chinese automakers, “If they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great, I love that.”
Reuters reported last month that trade groups representing nearly all major automakers urged the administration to keep Chinese carmakers out of the U.S. market ahead of Trump’s May trip, while U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said this month that the Biden-era rules barring Chinese vehicle hardware and software from American roads would remain in place.
Photo Courtesy: Robert Way on Shutterstock.com
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