The Commerce Department published a proposed rule Monday to ban imports of Chinese and Russian vehicles, as well as key hardware and software components, that could be used to spy on Americans or potentially even take control of their cars.
“Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies connected to the internet,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of U.S. citizens.”
The proposed regulation is the latest barrier that the United States has imposed on Chinese vehicles in recent years, but the first to address hacking threats. Former President Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on Chinese cars when he was in office, and President Joe Biden recently moved to quadruple that tariff to 100 percent on Chinese electric vehicles.
The proposed rule focuses on hardware and software integrated into a car’s Vehicle Connectivity System and the software integrated into its Automated Driving System. Both are critical systems that allow for external connectivity and autonomous driving capabilities in the increasingly commonplace “connected vehicles” traversing American roads.
