U.S. Government Remains Terrified of Chinese Cars Next week, the Senate Commerce Committee will be voting on legislation that would prohibit Chinese automakers from selling their vehicles inside the United States. This is despite the fact that those cars are already banned from being sold here, even though select models have still managed to slip through the cracks. Dubbed as the “ Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026,” the bill focuses primarily on safeguarding the U.S. economy from a claimed influx of Chinese vehicles. Politicians have chanted this mantra before, while also issuing warnings about how foreign intelligence could weaponize connected vehicles. This bill is supposed to tackle both issues by giving the government the ability to ban certain automobiles. But it’s not immediately clear what’s new about any of this. The Biden administration previously implemented regulations restricting connected-vehicle hardware and software linked to China on the grounds that the requisite data sharing presented a national security risk. It likewise worked to subsidize the automotive and energy sectors in an effort to spur domestically produced electric vehicles as Chinese-made EVs gained traction elsewhere in the world. Those bans would formally come into effect at the start of 2025, with Donald Trump imposing even more tariffs on Chinese-made cars shortly thereafter. More recently, the president has criticized Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for negotiating a deal with President Xi Jinping that would permit up to 49,000 Chinese EVs to be imported into Canada annually at a 6.1 percent tariff rather than the standard 100 percent. Needless to say, opposing vehicles coming out of China has been a largely bipartisan issue. Whether the focus is on protecting domestic manufacturers or cautioning against foreign intelligence gathering via connected vehicles, it’s easy to find someone inside the U.S. government that’s making a stink about