President Donald Trump has said Chinese car manufacturers could be allowed to build factories in the United States, provided they make vehicles there and hire American workers. The comments, made in an interview on Fox News programme ‘The Ingraham Angle’, point to a possible route for Chinese companies to manufacture inside the US while leaving in place the effective ban on imported Chinese vehicles.
“If China wanted to come in, and open a plant to build their cars here, I'd be okay with it – Japan does it – but they hire our people,” Trump said. He drew a line against Chinese producers making cars in Mexico and exporting them to the United States.
Trump also pledged to preserve the existing restrictions on vehicles made in China. “We don't allow his cars into the United States, and we never did,” he said in a Fox News interview. Chinese vehicles are essentially shut out of the US market by steep tariffs and a Commerce Department ban on national security grounds.
The distinction could matter for Chinese manufacturers whose electric vehicles are gaining share in markets around the world. Cheap, technology-heavy EVs from companies including BYD and Geely Automobile Holdings are expanding globally, and Chinese vehicles are appearing in both Canada and Mexico.
Trump’s remarks come weeks before a planned summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington. They also follow preliminary informal talks earlier in 2026 involving Ford Motor chief executive Jim Farley and Trump Cabinet members about how a framework for Chinese automakers to build cars in America might work.
No decisions were made in those discussions. The brief exchanges did not establish specific terms, incentives or regulations, and it remains unclear whether Trump will formally propose or put into effect such an approach. There is also no indication of whether Chinese automakers have shown serious interest in establishing manufacturing operations in the United States.
Trump had previously raised the prospect in a January speech at the Detroit Economic Club, when he said “let China come in”. His latest comments amount to a conditional opening rather than approval for unrestricted access to the US market. They would require Chinese companies to establish domestic factories and employ American workers.
Trump faced backlash after making the statement. U.S. lawmakers and automakers fear tougher competition from Chinese producers, though the specific concerns beyond broader competition fears have not been set out.
He has denied planning to permit direct imports of Chinese cars, describing reports that he would do so as a “completely false rumor”. For now, the policy outlined by Trump would keep imported Chinese vehicles outside the US market while holding out the possibility of production by Chinese companies inside it.
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