Major automakers say China poses 'clear and present threat' to US auto industry

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 - Major automakers connected Thursday urged Washington to forestall Chinese government-backed automakers and artillery manufacturers from opening U.S. ​manufacturing plants, informing the industry's aboriginal is astatine stake.

The Alliance for Automotive ‌Innovation, which represents General Motors, Ford, Toyota Motor, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Stellantis and different large automakers, sounded the ‌alarm and said Congress and the Trump medication needed to act.

"China poses a wide and contiguous menace to the car manufacture successful the U.S.," the radical wrote successful a connection for a U.S. House proceeding connected Chinese vehicles. The radical besides said ⁠lawmakers should support the U.S. ‌Commerce Department's prohibition connected importing accusation and communications exertion and services from China that efficaciously bars the import of vehicles from ‍Chinese manufacturers.

"No magnitude of concern by automakers and artillery manufacturers operating wrong the U.S. tin antagonistic a China that is enabled by subsidies to chronically oversupply astir the world. This is ​a look for dumping that Congress and the Trump Administration indispensable forestall ‌from happening wrong the U.S.," the car manufacture radical said.

Representative John Moolenaar, a Republican who chairs a prime House committee connected China, said Congress should codify into instrumentality the prohibitions connected Chinese-connected vehicles that were adopted successful the last days of erstwhile President Joe Biden's administration.

"In conscionable 5 years, China has gone from a insignificant ⁠exporter to the world's largest car exporter, shipping ​6 cardinal vehicles overseas past twelvemonth astatine beneath ​market prices that U.S. and allied automakers cannot match," Moolenaar said. "With monolithic subsidies, power implicit earthy materials and proviso chains and a ‍predatory regulatory regime, Beijing ⁠has turned its car manufacture into a instrumentality of the state.

He besides cited nationalist information concerns astir Chinese-imported vehicles and concerns that Beijing could ⁠disable vehicles with Chinese-made bundle oregon components successful the lawsuit of a large confrontation.

The Chinese embassy successful ‌Washington did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

(Reporting by ‌David Shepardson successful WashingtonEditing by Rod Nickel)