Officials with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation are renewing their call for a permanent ban on the sale of Chinese vehicles and appear poised to press federal lawmakers to take action before the 119th Congress ends January 3.

“We need to protect the U.S. market from a flood of Chinese imports that carry surveillance risk and disadvantage current manufacturers that have made generational investments in American communities,” writes AAI President and CEO John Bozzella in a recent blog post.

David Shepardson of Reuters was first to report the news, which follows September meetings between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in which the prospect of stateside production of Chinese models was raised. Trump said he would be “OK” with Chinese factories but did not discuss sales to American drivers.

The Trump administration has upheld the Biden-era Connected Vehicle Rule, which prohibits “foreign adversaries” — namely China and Russia — from selling hardware and software here. The AAI, which represents a large number and wide range of U.S.-sold brands, seeks a permanent resolution that allays concerns over national security and unfair trade practices.

Few lawmakers have spoken out against a ban, which would appear to have bipartisan support. In July, U.S. Senators Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) jointly announced the advancement from committee of their co-authored Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026. If passed, the act will ban Chinese vehicles as well as components.

“Chinese cars are surveillance packages on wheels, with the ability to collect on American citizens and transmit that data back to Beijing,” Slotkin wrote. “The Chinese Communist Party’s playbook of heavily subsidizing their product and underselling the competition puts Michigan’s auto industry and millions of American workers at risk.”