(April 14): Ford Motor Co’s top executive says allowing Chinese automakers to sell their cars in the US would be “devastating” to American manufacturing.
“We should not let them into our country,” chief executive officer Jim Farley said on Monday during an appearance on Fox News’ Fox & Friends show. “Manufacturing is the heart and soul of our country and for us to lose that to those exports would be devastating to our country.”
The US currently has 100% tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, which has effectively shut out automakers such as BYD Co and Xiaomi Corp. But China’s low-cost, high-tech cars are taking off in the rest of the world. That includes Mexico, where BYD alone accounts for seven out of 10 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles sold there, and Canada, which recently inked a deal with China to import 49,000 cars a year.
“I sure hope we don’t allow them to come across the border,” Farley said of Canada’s Chinese cars. Keeping these vehicles out of America should have a “big impact” on upcoming negotiations to rework the trade deal between the US, Canada and Mexico, he added.
The comments are some of Farley’s toughest yet about the threat posed by Chinese automakers. The Ford leader contends the “huge direct support” Chinese carmakers receive from their government gives them an unfair advantage to slash prices and decimate domestic automakers in the US. “There is no way this is a fair fight,” he said on Fox.
Farley also warned of national security risks from allowing technology-laden Chinese vehicles to navigate US roads.
See also: US trade chief thinks tech restrictions will block Chinese autos
“All of these vehicles have 10 cameras,” Farley said. “They can collect a lot of data.”
US President Donald Trump in January told the Detroit Economic Club he was willing to “let China come in” as long as they built factories and hired American workers. Farley subsequently told administration officials that Chinese carmakers should have to form joint ventures where US automakers hold controlling stakes in order to build cars in America, Bloomberg has reported.
Trump next month is travelling to Beijing for a closely watched summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
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