President Donald Trump‘s Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, has shared that the administration does not intend to change the President Joe Biden-era rules limiting Chinese software and hardware in the domestic auto industry.
Concerns About Sensitive Data
According to a Reuters report on Thursday, Greer shared that the rules, which were set by the Biden administration citing concerns about the tech collecting sensitive data, would remain unchanged. The limit on hardware would take effect in 2029, according to the rules, while software limitations kicked in this March.
“It would probably be difficult for certain countries to establish new production here, given those sets of rules,” Greer told the publication, but added that during the upcoming meeting with President Xi Jinping‘s office, discussing the auto industry was not the main agenda.
When asked whether Canadian drivers would be able to drive their Chinese-made EVs across the border into the U.S., Greer said it was not clear how that situation “will be resolved.”
Canadian Chinese EVs
Speaking of Chinese-made EVs, Ottawa recently signed a trade agreement with China that would allow over 49,000 Chinese-made EVs to be exported to the Canadian market at a 6.1% tariff rate. The number could also stretch to 70,000 EVs in the future.
However, the move has seen criticism from Canadian lawmakers. Recently, Canada’s leader of the Official Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, unveiled a U.S.-focused auto industry strategy and criticized the deal with China.
Trump Admin Criticizes China Deal
Trump had earlier expressed opposition to the deal between Ottawa and Beijing, calling it one of the “worst” deals of all time and even threatening to impose 100% tariffs on Canada because of the deal.
However, EV giant BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDF) (OTC:BYDDY) registered its factories in Shenzhen and Xi’an provinces in China as potential exporters to Canada, following the agreement.
Trump’s ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, on the other hand, said that the administration wouldn’t let the Chinese-made EVs “cross the border into the U.S.” Hoekstra had cited security and privacy concerns with Chinese EVs as his reasoning behind the stance.
Lawmakers Oppose Chinese Push
The news comes as a bipartisan bill pushed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) seeks to ban the use of Chinese technology, including physical AI like Humanoid Robots, by the U.S. government. The bill, called the American Security Robotics Act, aims to prohibit the government from procuring “unmanned ground vehicles” from foreign adversaries, like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Image via Shutterstock
Recent Comments