U.S. Government to Ban Chinese, Russian Tech in American Cars

In a bid to be the only government allowed to harvest our data and use it against us, the Biden administration today announced a ban on certain automotive technologies “and the import of particular components themselves from countries of concern,” according to a statement released by the White House. Those countries of concern? The People’s Republic of China and Russia.

According to the statement, which cited the Department of Commerce, “vehicles’ increasing connectivity creates opportunities to collect and exploit sensitive information. Certain hardware and software in connected vehicles enable the capture of information about geographic areas or critical infrastructure, and present opportunities for malicious actors to disrupt the operations of infrastructure or the vehicles themselves. Commerce has determined that certain technologies used in connected vehicles from the PRC and Russia present particularly acute threats. These countries of concern could use critical technologies within our supply chains for surveillance and sabotage to undermine national security.”

Anyone who has ever asked Amazon’s Alexa a question about pizza rolls and then been served ads for Totino’s knows exactly what Commerce is talking about. 

The news comes just four months after President Biden issued a 100 percent tariff on Chinese EVs. The ban on software would take effect for model year 2027, while hardware prohibitions would go into effect for model year 2030. “These restrictions will help address national security risks posed by connected vehicle technologies from countries of concern,” the statement said. 

The rule covers any and all connectivity systems, including Bluetooth, cellular, satellite, and WiFi modules, as well as the systems and components that allow autonomous vehicles to function. For exceptional circumstances, the statement does note that the Department of Commerce is considering exemptions for “small producers of vehicles” in order to “minimize unanticipated and unnecessary disruption to industry.” Whether or not this is a wink-wink at Lotus, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese manufacturing giant Geely, is anyone’s guess, though certainly such restrictions could cripple the sports car specialist’s efforts to hawk cars in America. 

As the language of the ban focuses solely on connectivity, that still leaves the door open to Chinese battery technology, which could greatly benefit the EV efforts of American carmakers given China’s role as a leader in that space. How all of this unfolds between now and 2027 will be interesting, including whether China, both a U.S. trade partner and a geopolitical adversary, issues its own restrictions on U.S. auto imports. 

Sales of American cars in China have been on a downward trajectory of late, with total market share down from 12 percent to seven percent since 2020, a particular blow to General Motors. Concurrently, China overtook the U.S. as the world’s top producer of automobiles and has expanded further into new markets, particularly in Europe, where it now has 11 percent of the EV market.