AAH #808 - Will Trump Really Let Chinese Automakers Into America?

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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John McElroy (0:23)

Everybody, thanks for joining us on Autoline After Hours. Gary Vassilash is out today. He's actually in Chicago. He's a speaker at the Machine Tool Show that's going on there.

He'll be back next week. But we've got Joe White from High Speed Rodeo. We've got Liam Rappleye from the Detroit Free Press, and Sean McElroy from Autoline.

We also have a lot of great news to get into. We may as well get started. Joe, is the Trump administration, and this is what everybody in the industry is talking about. Is the Trump administration really going to let Chinese cars into the American market?

Joe White (0:59)

Well, not if, let me see if I can get all the different constituencies. Not if the National Auto Dealers Association, the Democrats and the Republicans who represent auto states in Congress, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which is the lobby that represents pretty much all the major OEMs, I think, except for Tesla automakers in the country. I could go on. I mean, so the thing that has spooked everyone is that President Trump, and I don't remember the venue in which he was asked this or said this, but President Trump has once again said that if Chinese automakers, BYD, Geely, want to come build vehicles in the United States with American workers, that he would welcome that and it would be great. And he compared it, he appears to some history of the auto industry compared to the Japanese, the Koreans and the Germans coming into this country, setting up shop, replacing imports with US made product.

This is really spooked people. By the way, let's just say Geely actually does build vehicles in the United States. It's cleverly disguised as the Volvo plant in Charleston, South Carolina, which I've seen a number of times, nice facility. But, you know, everybody else in sort of the automotive, US automotive incumbency establishment does not want this to happen. And it has spooked folks that Trump is open to this. And what they would like, I think, you know, what they would like is if they can't get him to stop saying that periodically, at least keep it off the agenda when Chinese leader Xi Jinping is here, but in a couple of weeks or 10 days, something like that.

John McElroy (2:43)

Right.

Sean McElroy (2:43)

That's right.

John McElroy (2:45)

Anything you guys got to add?

Liam Rappleye (2:47)

You know, it is, especially when it comes to the automotive industry and things Trump says, it always feels like a gamble, just on what you believe. I think, you know, the idea of it sort of matches his tariff policy, which is sell here, build here.

It seems sort of are fetched, to me, considering how many people would have to be on board with this, especially the strong automotive lobby in the United States, but it has always been unpredictable.

Sean McElroy (3:23)

So I don't know.

Joe White (3:23)

Yeah, I think the thing is, what's interesting about it is one that he says this stuff during a midterm election campaign, where one of the key races that Republicans want to win and need to win is in Michigan. And actually, there's one in Ohio, too. I mean, both in Ohio and Michigan, I may have missed one, but those are the two, for sure, where Democrats have a shot at winning in Ohio again, Sherrod Brown, it's neck and neck here in Michigan. But the point being, that's not, sort of being pro-China is not what you want to necessarily broadcast to people who are dependent on the auto industry and people who are living in those states.

Yeah, and the thing about Trump, though, I think this may be where he's coming from, whether he intends it or not, is that if a Chinese automaker besides G. Lee Balbo decided to invest in the United States, where do you think they would invest?

John McElroy (4:18)

Non-union southern states.

SPEAKER_1 (4:19)

Red states, exactly.

Joe White (4:21)

So he may be thinking, well, this would be great for some red state that would get this investment down the road. But again, as you said, I mean, the incumbent auto industry position, and the dealers are now on board with this, is we don't want Chinese cars imported to this market. It's existential.

We don't, I think the legislation in Congress released one of them. Basically, we don't want them built here. We don't want anything to do.