U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, issued a pointed warning to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, arguing that the administration should not invite Chinese automakers to establish operations in the United States, calling the prospect a direct threat to both national security and the American economy. The statement, posted to X at 6:53 a.m. on September 22, 2026, comes just two days before Trump is scheduled to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House for a high-stakes bilateral summit.
“The President should not invite Chinese automakers to set up shop in the United States. This is quite literally an attempt by Chinese companies to get their foot in the door of the American market. This is a national security and an economic security issue. We should not give an inch,” Slotkin wrote in the post.
The post represents Slotkin’s most direct public statement yet on the issue since Trump signaled openness last week to allowing Chinese automakers to manufacture vehicles on U.S. soil, a position that has drawn sharp pushback from lawmakers in both parties, labor unions and virtually the entire domestic auto industry.
Slotkin, whose home state of Michigan houses the headquarters of General Motors in Detroit and Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents in Congress of granting Chinese automakers access to the U.S. market. Her Tuesday statement builds directly on remarks she made the previous week, when she said there were “rumors that Trump is planning to allow Chinese cars to be sold in the U.S., as part of a larger deal he’s putting together,” adding that doing so “would be a strategic mistake” that would “irrevocably impact” not just the American auto industry but the broader U.S. manufacturing base and American jobs.
Trump dismissed Slotkin’s earlier warning as a “total phony rumor,” insisting he was the “only one stopping” Chinese vehicles from entering the country. But days later, in a September 11 interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” Trump appeared to confirm the substance of Slotkin’s concern, telling host Laura Ingraham that he would be open to Chinese automakers building vehicles inside the United States. “If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I’d be okay with that,” Trump said. “Japan does it, but they hire our people. The big thing is they hire our people.” He added that he would not accept Chinese automakers manufacturing vehicles in Mexico and exporting them into the U.S., stating, “I’m not knocking Chinese cars.”
Trump’s comments were not the first indication of his openness to the idea. In a January speech at the Detroit Economic Club, in the heart of the American auto industry, Trump said he would be willing to “let China come in” and build vehicles domestically. Earlier this year, Ford CEO Jim Farley reportedly held informal discussions with Trump administration officials about a potential framework that would allow Chinese automakers to manufacture in the U.S. while offering some protections for domestic manufacturers, according to people familiar with the talks. No decisions were made at the time.
Tuesday’s X post is the latest escalation in a monthslong legislative and rhetorical campaign Slotkin has waged against Chinese vehicle access, largely through her work on the Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026, which she introduced alongside Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno on April 29. The bipartisan bill would permanently prohibit the importation, manufacture, sale, resale and operation of connected vehicles, software and hardware tied to China or other designated foreign adversaries. It would also grant the Commerce Department new authority to identify and block high-risk vehicle technologies, with restrictions on vehicles and software set to take effect in 2027 and hardware restrictions following in 2030.
“Chinese cars are surveillance packages on wheels, with the ability to collect on American citizens and transmit that data back to Beijing,” Slotkin said in a statement when the bill cleared the Senate Commerce Committee. “The Chinese Communist Party’s playbook of heavily subsidizing their product and underselling the competition puts Michigan’s auto industry and millions of American workers at risk.” The committee, chaired by Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, voted unanimously on July 22 to advance the measure, which now awaits consideration by the full Senate. A companion bill has been introduced in the House.
The legislation has drawn an unusually broad coalition of support, including from General Motors, the United Auto Workers, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the American Iron and Steel Institute, the CAR Coalition and Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who described the Chinese strategy in the sector bluntly: “The Chinese Communist plan for automobiles is all too familiar: undermine U.S. industry through state subsidies and unfair labor practices, flood our market with Chinese goods, and then use those products to spy on Americans. Our bill puts an end to their scheme.” Alliance for Automotive Innovation President and CEO John Bozzella echoed the concern, stating that “China has a strategy to dominate global automotive and battery manufacturing that presents a challenge to American economic and national security.”
That industry alarm intensified on September 18, when a coalition representing General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford, Hyundai, Stellantis, Tesla and other major manufacturers sent a letter to Trump urging his administration to hold the line ahead of the Xi meeting. “We urge your administration to maintain policies that keep the door firmly shut to Chinese automakers seeking to sell, import or manufacture vehicles inside the U.S.,” the letter stated, according to Reuters reporting.
Currently, Chinese automakers face substantial barriers to the U.S. market. A regulation finalized under the Biden administration in early 2025 effectively bars Chinese automakers from selling or manufacturing passenger vehicles in the United States, citing national security risks tied to data-collecting vehicle technology. Washington separately maintains tariffs exceeding 100% on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Slotkin and Moreno’s legislation is designed to codify those protections into permanent law, making any future policy reversal more difficult regardless of which administration is in office.
The dispute over Chinese automakers arrives at a sensitive moment in U.S.-China relations. Trump is set to host Xi at the White House on September 24, the Chinese leader’s first visit to the United States in more than a decade, following Trump’s own state visit to Beijing in May. Trump has indicated that artificial intelligence is expected to dominate the agenda for the talks, though trade issues, including the future of Chinese access to the American auto sector, are widely expected to factor into the broader economic discussions between the two leaders.
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official who has built her Senate career substantially around national security issues, has consistently framed the Chinese automaker question as inseparable from broader concerns about data security and industrial competitiveness rather than a purely economic trade dispute. Her Tuesday post reiterates that framing directly, characterizing any opening for Chinese manufacturers as a foothold that would carry consequences beyond the auto sector alone.
As of Tuesday, the White House had not issued a formal response to Slotkin’s latest statement, and it remained unclear whether the question of Chinese automaker access would be formally addressed during Trump’s meeting with Xi later this week.