Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, says the US government is doing the right thing by not allowing Chinese car manufacturers to operate in that country. Speaking on the Fox & Friends show on Fox News, Farley did not mince his words as he described the devastation that Chinese brands would do to the US automotive manufacturing industry.
“We should not let them into our country”, he said. “Manufacturing is the heart and soul of our country and for us to lose that to those exports would be devastating.” Farley is aware that Mexico and Canada are currently allowing Chinese imports, while the Trump administration has slapped 100% tariffs on them. That effectively keeps them out, as a Chinese car that would normally cost for example, $25 000, would now cost $50 000, making it not worth the customers’ while. The Ford CEO also said he hopes the cars are not brought through those two borders.
Farley’s fears are not just about local manufacturing, but apparently about data collection and usage. He said Chinese cars are fitted with a lot of cameras that collect a lot of data. Presumably his implication is that the data would then be used nefariously by the Chinese automotive companies and/ or Chinese government. Interestingly American cars from Tesla and Cadillac are also fitted with cameras, and are quite popular in China.
