Earlier this week, the Commerce Department proposed a wide-reaching rule to prohibit Chinese-developed software and connectivity-related hardware from cars in the United States, starting in a few years. And since these technologies are relatively ubiquitous in Chinese cars, the rule could amount to a de facto ban on them in the United States. The decision builds on the Biden administration’s recent moves to levy 100 percent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, and provisions within the Inflation Reduction Act that restrict incentives for electric vehicles that contain components or raw materials made in China.
In order “for consumers to be safe and secure in increasingly connected cars on American roads, we need to guard against national security risks from China,” national economic adviser Lael Brainard argued in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club earlier this week. The ban was proposed to “guard against safety and security risks in connected cars and ensure that our auto supply chains are resilient from foreign threats,” she added, citing Chinese cars’ ability to exchange data with other vehicles, personal devices, infrastructure, and auto manufacturers. “The computer systems that power these cars can control vehicle movement and collect sensitive driver and passenger data, and the cameras and sensors embedded within them can record detailed information about our country and citizens.” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that while few cars on the road currently contain these Chinese-made technologies, putting up barriers now would allow policymakers to “secure the American people, including our children, from potential surveillance.”
The Biden administration seems to be doubling down on an economic agenda in which the lines between industrial and national security policy are becoming increasingly thin. Pitched on the fear that so-called “connected cars” pose a........