WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, heading into a much-anticipated visit from Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week, is on a political island when it comes to his support for Chinese automakers building vehicles in the United States.

Trump has said he "loves" the notion, but industry groups, labor leaders and lawmakers from both parties have strongly opposed the prospect of allowing companies like BYD Co. and Xiaomi Auto to set up shop in America's heartland.

The idea is so unpopular in automotive-heavy, politically purple Michigan that even a recent supporter of Chinese involvement in the U.S. industry has reversed his stance as he seeks election to Congress.

"Longer term, I still believe that some international tech transfer and partnerships could be important," said Will Lawrence, a community organizer from Lansing running as a Democrat for one of Michigan's most competitive U.S. House seats. "But we have to get our house in order first.

"Our first priority needs to be putting in place a consistent industrial trade policy in this country that is about strengthening our domestic auto sector, protecting American auto workers, and reclaiming technological leadership."

Lawrence's comment leaves no political backers for Trump's position on Chinese autos among Michigan's federal lawmakers and congressional candidates — one of several areas where the president continues to trust his own internal compass on politics and business, even as allies and opponents alike go in a different direction.

"I think that's a bad idea, frankly, for Chinese autos to build in the United States or import in the United States," Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett said in a phone interview. The first-term congressman from Charlotte is looking to fend off a midterm challenge from Lawrence in a Lansing-based district that is home to several major auto manufacturing facilities, including two General Motors Co. assembly plants.

Concern over Trump's stance, from Barrett and others, has grown ahead of Xi's scheduled visit to the White House on Sept. 24, which was previously rumored to include Chinese auto industry leaders.

"It's no secret that the Chinese industry rips off American intellectual property and ingenuity, they distort markets by manipulating their currency and doing all kinds of other things, they heavily subsidize their industries in their own country, and they do that in an effort to try and overtake other competitive westernized industries," Barrett said.

"Allowing Chinese manufacturers in ... is going to have the end result of disadvantaging American consumers and manufacturers and those that build these cars. That has been my position from the very beginning ... This is a very, very significant component of our economy, and I don't want to see that jeopardized by an adversarial country coming in to try and dominate American industries."

He added that letting China's auto industry gain a U.S. foothold could risk undermining Trump's own rhetoric in Michigan, a crucial political battleground he won in the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections in part by focusing on trade and manufacturing issues.

"You saw what happened with NAFTA and other trade agreements that really hollowed out the manufacturing base in the United States, most pronounced in Michigan. I don't want to see a continuation of that."

Lansing Democrat shifts China stance

Lawrence, a progressive who beat out two moderates in Michigan's August Democratic primary, was previously closer to Trump on the topic of Chinese autos.

"You can't look at what BYD is doing and think that just building a wall is going to be the answer, because they are years and years ahead already, clearly, on their manufacturing and their technological capacity. And if the answer is to not work with them, boy, we're going to be in trouble," he said on his podcast in 2024.

Running — and winning — with that position in a general election would represent a significant shift in Michigan, where there is bipartisan consensus from top state leaders that Chinese automakers must be kept out. Trump bucked that position and won in 2024, but no candidates for Congress have done so.

Lawrence's past remarks also included praise for the United Auto Workers and a suggestion that "tariff wars" were "tremendously short-sighted" as a way to protect American companies amid the growing success of Chinese automakers, especially with electric vehicles.

The 36-year-old candidate, who has been endorsed by the UAW, aligned more with the political consensus and affirmed his opposition to Chinese vehicle position in a Sept. 21 phone interview with The Detroit News.

"We should have a clear stance that says no Chinese vehicles in the United States," the Democrat said, noting that China's fast-growing role in Europe's auto industry changed his thinking. Lawrence indicated that he remains open to "tech transfer and partnerships" with Chinese companies in the future, though not now.

"I don't want to speculate on a timeline, but it's more like we'll know when we see it," he said of U.S. readiness for such partnerships. "We need to have sufficiently robust protections and a sufficiently strong industrial and workforce space here in the United States that is not vulnerable to disruption or being undermined by foreign partnerships."

Lawrence added: "It can't look like what's happening in Europe right now, where their workers and their domestic auto sector is being decimated by the arrival of Chinese vehicles. We need to create the kind of strong position that would prevent that from happening."

Barrett, a former state lawmaker elected to Congress in 2024, jabbed at his Democratic opponent for taking a new approach on Chinese autos.

"Obviously, his past comments are completely out of step with what is in the best interests of American auto workers, American consumers, and American culture," Barrett said. He noted several instances of Lawrence distancing himself from past comments about Black Democratic leaders, the nuclear family and other topics.

Barrett continued: "He can't just take every single issue that has come back to challenge him that is far outside of the mainstream — not just Republicans or independent voters in my district, but even mainstream Democrats in my district — and then just say, 'Well, I no longer adhere to those positions.' ... This is a pattern of him trying to disavow all of his positions that he held, which I think brings into question: Well, what does he believe in?"

The shift from Lawrence is a typical part of campaign season, according to Oakland University political scientist Dave Dulio. He noted Michigan GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers taking a new position on the Iran war.

"Mr. Lawrence is facing some of the same decisions about how to build a winning coalition," Dulio said. "And being for China entering our market is probably not a great thing in Michigan."

Chinese autos 'inevitability' to some

The political tension around Chinese vehicles underscores an existential question for the auto sector in Michigan and the United States more broadly. Analysts have sounded alarms over Chinese companies' potential entrance into the U.S. market, though some see such a development as inevitable.

"If Donald Trump opens the door, China will quickly overwhelm America’s auto industry, just as it is now ravaging Europe," wrote Michael Dunne, a former General Motors Co. executive and CEO of advisory firm Dunne Insights LLC, in a Sept. 21 blog post.

"Chinese cars are pouring into Germany, Spain and Italy with unprecedented speed and force. Volkswagen last week announced that it will lay off 100,000 workers and close four plants," Dunne added. "That’s the first time since WWII that a German automaker has shuttered factories. Suppliers like Continental and Bosch and Valeo will dismiss tens of thousands more. Europe is getting gutted."

The market share for Chinese auto companies in Europe was less than 1% before 2020. Now their share in Western Europe is roughly 11.5%, per data from Schmidt Automotive Research. Dunne noted that Chinese automakers' expansion there and in other markets comes amid cutthroat competition in their domestic market.

"China’s scores of automakers are currently engaged in a fight-to-the-death price war at home. There’s red ink everywhere. Access to the US, by far the most lucrative car market in the world, is like a giant tank of life-saving oxygen," he added. "President Xi cannot believe his good luck."

Tu Le, managing director of consulting firm Sino Auto Insights, said he does not expect Trump to make a deal on Chinese autos during Xi's visit because of other more pressing topics, like cooperation on artificial intelligence. But he doesn't expect the issue to disappear, either.

"I think once Xi Jinping leaves, it's gonna be a sigh of relief from the state of Michigan," Le said in a phone interview. "But it still feels like an inevitability. It's a when, not an if thing. I just don't know how the U.S. government could continue in perpetuity to restrict products that, if an American leaves the country, they're going to see."

Le noted that both Mexico and Canada have allowed Chinese vehicles into their domestic markets. All of the vehicles are imported for now, though that could change. Automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. has said it will begin manufacturing vehicles in Mexico in late 2026, and the potential sale of a Stellantis NV plant in Canada could create a northern opening for China.

"We know that the products are good," Le said of Chinese cars. "And at the end of the day, as the United States, do we want to participate in foreign direct investment or don't we?"

Autos outcry swells ahead of Xi visit

Politicians and trade groups have aimed concerned messages about China at Trump and top administration officials throughout the year, first when Trump visited Beijing and again in recent days ahead of Xi's trip stateside.

Six of the top automotive lobbying groups in Washington sent a joint message on Sept. 17 urging Trump to "keep the door firmly shut" on Chinese automakers. Lawmakers followed suit.

"The President should not invite Chinese automakers to set up shop in the United States. This is quite literally an attempt by Chinese companies to get their foot in the door of the American market," U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, said in a social media post on Sept. 22. "This is a national security and an economic security issue. We should not give an inch."

She and Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, introduced a bipartisan bill earlier in 2026 seeking to ban Chinese autos from the American market. Michigan U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell and John Moolenaar introduced a similar bill in the House.

Dingell, an Ann Arbor Democrat and longtime voice for the auto industry in Washington, also led a new Sept. 21 letter to Trump from Democratic members of Congress emphasizing "the importance of protecting the United States automotive industry, its workers, and our economic and national security from the growing threat posed by China."

Some 26 colleagues co-signed the letter, including fellow Michigan Democratic Reps. Haley Stevens, Hillary Scholten and Shri Thanedar.

There has not been a similar group message from Republicans in the lead-up to Xi's Washington visit. However, GOP lawmakers in both the House and Senate did express their positions in May 2026 letters. Barrett and four other Michigan Republicans (Moolenaar, Tim Walberg, Bill Huizenga and Jack Bergman) signed on to one of them.

"China’s goal is not to compete in the U.S. automotive market, but instead to hollow it out and ultimately limit consumer choice to Chinese brands," that letter, led by Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, said.

"Allowing Chinese automotive and battery companies to manufacture in the U.S. would jeopardize our national security."

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