U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and John Moolenaar (R-Caledonia) introduced legislation into the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday to prohibit the importation, manufacture and sale of connected vehicles, software, and hardware linked to China.
The legislation, known as the Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026, would also apply to vehicles or related software and hardware from Russia, North Korea or Iran.
“This legislation is important because it’s the solution we need to stop our companies and American workers from being the next victims of China’s manipulative trade practices,” Moolenaar said in a press conference on Tuesday, referring to China’s undercutting of the drone industry in America as an example. “If we allow this to happen to our auto industry, it will be lights out for the American auto industry.”
Dingell joined Democratic members of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, which Moolenaar chairs, on a tour of a General Motors plant and a United Auto Workers chapter in metro Detroit on Saturday, to similarly discuss the impact of Chinese manufacturing and supporting
“We are not competing on a level playing field, when China subsidizes its manufacturers, it manipulates its currency, it uses slave labor,” Dingell said in the press conference with Moolenaar. “That’s not a level playing field. And what they’re trying to do is to get inside our country and fight us from within.”
Specifically, a press release accompanying the bill notes that it would ban the “importation, manufacture, sale, or introduction into U.S. commerce of connected vehicles originating from or controlled by a covered foreign adversary country” and establish civil penalties of at least $1.5 million for each violation of the law.
Most of the restrictions in the bill would go into effect at the start of 2027, with the hardware prohibition going into effect in 2030.
When asked at the press conference about Chinese vehicles being generally less expensive than American-made cars and how that might be a draw for consumers, both members of Congress noted that Chinese business practices allow for those cheaper prices — though neither directly addressed how to potentially lower the prices of American vehicles to make them more accessible to purchase.
“I do talk to people who will talk to me about that, and China has a pattern of coming in, subsidizing the cost, to keep the price lower, destroying industry, and then jacking up the price,” Dingell said. “This is about America’s future. This is about the American workers’ future.”
The press conference was held just prior to President Donald Trump’s visit to China this week and his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, something that the representatives noted.
A companion version of the legislation was introduced into the U.S. Senate by Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) and Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer released a statement on Tuesday applauding the bipartisan efforts in Congress, noting the auto industry’s important place in Michigan’s economy, employing about half a million people in the state.
“I’m proud of the work we’ve done to bring manufacturing back home from overseas, but all of that is at risk if we let cheap, government-subsidized Chinese vehicles into our country. Right now, that’s exactly what’s happening in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. Companies that can’t compete with vehicles subsidized by China are selling fewer cars, closing factories, and cutting jobs,” she wrote. “However, this isn’t just about economics. It’s a national security problem, too. The software in these vehicles can use data gathering to supply China with countless pieces of information about Americans.”
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