State Representative Luke Meerman (R-Coopersville) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would ban the sale of vehicles designed, developed, and manufactured by foreign entities of concern. Meerman’s House Bill 4400 would address growing concerns of adversarial foreign countries, most notably including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), attempting to weaken America’s national and economic security by monopolizing critical industries and increasing American dependency on foreign products.

“China’s effort to make the U.S. dependent on them for important products is at the heart of their strategy to undermine our country,” Meerman said. “The CCP has been strategically subsidizing their vehicle manufacturers to flood global markets with cheap cars. This poses a threat to not only our own auto manufacturers and the workers they employ, but also to Americans’ privacy and national security.

“These vehicles are capable of being operated remotely and transmitting images and 3-D models of critical infrastructure sites back to Beijing. We cannot just welcome into our country thousands of technologically advanced devices subject to the control of a nation that is openly and actively working to undermine our homeland security.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently issued a rule prohibiting Chinese connected vehicles from entering the country. Michigan’s U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin also introduced legislation that would reinforce the Department of Commerce’s ability to limit or ban the introduction of Chinese vehicles in the U.S. Though Meerman strongly supports the federal government’s efforts to prevent Chinese automobiles from entering the U.S., he also emphasized that a state-level solution remains necessary.

“Federal policies can ebb and flow, especially when they are only executive rules established under a bygone presidential administration,” Meerman said. “The Michigan Legislature is best positioned to permanently protect our own state’s residents, workers, and companies from malicious foreign actors. This legislation offers the best path forward for keeping invasive foreign technology out of our country and standing up for our auto-workers.”

House Bill 4400 was referred to the House Committee on Government Operations.