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In an address at Macomb Community College in Michigan, Donald Trump told the friendly crowd that he wanted foreign auto manufacturers to build more factories in the U.S. What may have surprised them was Trump’s plea for the Chinese to build their cars in America, too.
Last year on the campaign trail, he said the same thing. “I’ll tell [Chinese automakers] if they want to build a plant in Michigan, in Ohio, in South Carolina, they can, using American workers, they can,” he told supporters in March 2024 in Dayton, Ohio.
Generally, this is a very good idea. It would help in redressing the lopsided balance of trade we have with China. But there’s a downside to the idea of allowing China to build its cars in the U.S. Modern automobiles are loaded with potential tracking and surveillance capabilities that pose an unacceptable national security risk.
City Journal notes, “All new cars, whether electric or internal combustion, are inextricable from computing elements, which govern everything from ignitions to anti-lock braking systems.” Some autos, like Tesla and the Chinese EVs BYD and Xiaomi, are referred to as “smartphones on wheels.
