Congress's Chinese EV Ban Has a Critical Blind Spot
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is considering legislation that would effectively ban the sale of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S. This is a prudent step. Chinese EVs are effectively rolling surveillance platforms, collecting geolocation data, mapping American roads and infrastructure, and transmitting that information directly to the Chinese Communist Party.
Banning them from American roads is the right call, and the committee's focus on this issue reflects a growing bipartisan understanding of the national security stakes.
But the proposed legislation is missing a key factor: the battery.
By including the imposition of restrictions on the importation of Chinese car batteries, as well as the vehicles themselves, Congress would be poised to advance America First legislation that would defend both our economic and national security interests.
As currently drafted, the committee’s bill would allow U.S. carmakers to import Chinese batteries that would be used in American cars. A Chinese-made battery management system sitting inside an American-branded EV can collect the same data, communicate with the same networks, and be manipulated by the same adversary.
Further, allowing China to flood U.S. markets with heavily subsidized batteries undermines the nascent American battery industry before it can compete. Every Chinese battery that displaces a domestic alternative deepens our dependence on Beijing for a component that sits at the heart of our energy infrastructure and national security.
While some Democrats may argue that cheaper Chinese batteries will lower EV prices for American consumers, the short-term savings are not worth the long-term cost of handing Beijing control over the infrastructure that will power the next generation of American transportation.
CATL, the Chinese battery giant that controls 38 percent of the global battery market, is not simply a manufacturer. It is an instrument of Chinese state power. Under China's military-civil fusion strategy, there is no meaningful distinction between a civilian company and a national security asset. Under Chinese law, private companies are required to share data and information with state security agencies, making CATL's data a weapon of Beijing.
The batteries CATL produces are not passive hardware. They contain sophisticated battery management systems, software-enabled components that monitor performance, communicate externally, and can receive remote updates. Embedded in an American EV, a home energy storage system, or a grid-scale installation, a CATL battery is a potential data collection node and a potential point of remote manipulation. In a conflict scenario, China’s ability to degrade or disable battery systems across the American vehicle fleet or energy grid is a strategic liability.
Congress has already acknowledged this in other contexts. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 National Defense Authorization Act prohibited the Department of Defense from procuring batteries from CATL and other PRC-linked companies. Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and then-Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) extended that logic to the State Department with the Blocking Bad Batteries Act. The Commerce Department finalized a connected vehicle rule that specifically flagged battery communication systems as a national security concern.
The Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026 gets closer to the right answer. It covers software and hardware in connected vehicles, including battery communication systems, and imposes phased prohibitions through 2030. But legislation that bans the car while exempting the battery pack inside an otherwise American-branded vehicle hands Beijing exactly the workaround. Chinese battery companies are already exploring American manufacturing partnerships specifically to circumvent import restrictions, such as the Ford-CATL plant in Michigan. President Biden enabled this loophole. A Republican-led House should not open another one. The vehicle ban without the battery ban is a wall with a gate left open.
The Energy and Commerce Committee is taking an important first step, but half measures will not protect Americans from this Chinese Communist Party threat.
Chad F. Wolf previously served as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security during the first Trump Administration.
