Ford Wants Chinese EVs Banned From North America

Just weeks after praising China's automotive business and the electric vehicles (EVs) the country is churning out, Ford's Jim Farley has gone on the record to say that Chinese EVs should not be permitted to be sold in North America.

His interview on Fox News echoes some of what the US government has said recently, and yet it contradicts the mantra of the automotive business as a whole while going against what Farley himself said only a few months back.

There's a lot of controversy around China's electric cars and how rapidly the tech is evolving. Truth be told, most of this controversy and hesitation comes from existing, legacy automakers like Ford. Brands obviously want to see the next great thing up close and person, but when it jeopardizes their own business it becomes a bridge too far.

Ford CEO Jim Farley is experiencing that internal conflict as of late. After driving a Xiaomi SU7 and other Chinese EVs, Farley was reportedly so impressed by and excited about these vehicles that Ford began exploring the possibility of building the cars for Xiaomi in the United States.

Undoubtedly, some of this proposal was due to Ford losing nearly $5 billion in 2025 alone while Chinese manufacturers like Xiamoi and BYD were handily stealing the company's lunch money.

Farley said on Fox News, “We should not let them into our country,” and that allowing such would be “devastating to our country.” He went on to say, "There is no way this is a fair fight."

Admittedly, Farley said a lot of his rationale is security reasons: “All of these vehicles have 10 cameras [...] They can collect a lot of data." He also said, point blank, “I sure hope we don’t allow them across the border.”

AutoGuide's Take:

This is an interesting take and development from Farley, especially considering how much the existing (and ever-changing) tariffs would impact the price of Chinese vehicles once they reach consumers' hands. The security concerns certainly are there, but with the already-existing nonstop surveillance happening in our world from things like cell phones, security cameras, smart home devices, and more, it's hard to see a small percentage of cars being the straw that broke the camel's back.

Then again, this is the CEO of Ford speaking; someone has to draw a line in the sand, and while we don't know if this is a politically driven or consumer safety-driven slew of comments, it was bound to happen eventually.

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