Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin is praising advancement of legislation to ban Chinese-made vehicles from being sold in the United States. The bill cleared the Senate Commerce Committee and moved on to the full U.S. Senate for review.

“Any car that is manufactured, designed, developed in China, or by a Chinese-company, cannot come into the United States, period. It cannot be sold in a dealership and cannot come over our bridges and tunnels.”

The Michigan Democrat argues Chinese-made vehicles are both an economic security issue and a national security issue.

“They’re here to undercut our industry. For Michigan, that’s 450,000 jobs,” Slotkin said. “These things collect data, video, 3D mapping on our military sites, our infrastructure sites, and send all of that back to Beijing.”

Critics argue the ban’s language could potentially bar Mercedes-Benz from ⁠selling vehicles in the United States.

Senator Ted Cruz, the chair of the committee, warned that without changes, the bill's provision that would ban companies with ‌more ⁠than 15% ownership of Chinese entities would bar Mercedes-Benz from selling vehicles in the ⁠United States because of its nearly 20% Chinese investment.

Senator ⁠Bernie Moreno said Mercedes-Benz would have until ⁠2030 to comply and could still get waivers if needed.