Trump says he would be OK with China building cars in US

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would not oppose Chinese carmakers building cars in the US despite widespread opposition from US lawmakers and car companies.

“If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I’d be OK with that,” Trump said in an interview on the Fox News programme The Ingraham Angle .

“Japan does it, but they hire our people. The big thing is they hire our people,” he said.

Trump said he does not want Chinese carmakers to build cars in Mexico and ship them to the US. “I’m not knocking Chinese cars,” Trump said.

US carmakers have urged Trump, who is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington in two weeks, not to agree to allow Chinese carmakers access to the US market.

On Wednesday, US senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said there were “rumours Trump is planning to allow Chinese cars to be sold in the US as part of a larger deal he’s putting together. That would be a strategic mistake.”

Trump called Slotkin’s statement a “total phoney rumour” and said he had kept Chinese vehicles out of the US.

A regulation imposed by former president Joe ​Biden’s administration in early 2025 effectively bans all Chinese carmakers from selling or building passenger vehicles in the US. Washington maintains more than 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

Last week, a group representing nearly all major carmakers urged Congress to quickly pass legislation permanently barring Chinese vehicles from the US market.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Honda, Stellantis and others, called for passage of the bill by the end of December.

“Chinese automakers are dumping subsidised vehicles with connected software and hardware around the world,” the group’s CEO, John Bozzella, said in a letter to congressional leaders.