AUTONEWS

Like Huawei, Chinese electric cars collect personal information considered “highly sensitive” from drivers and send it to Beijing

The trade dispute between the United States and China remains intense. The Biden administration has issued a new warning, indicating that Chinese electric vehicles could be considered a “significant national security risk” due to the considerable amount of data they collect that could potentially be sent to China.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced that electric and autonomous cars are “collecting an enormous amount of information about the driver, the location of the car and the environment around the vehicle”, as reported. Her words went further and she left a question: “Do we want all this data to go to Beijing?”

This communication appears as a continuation of other initiatives currently underway. The White House is drafting an independent executive order to prevent foreign adversaries from gaining access to personal information considered “highly sensitive.”

Since 2019, the United States has applied additional tariffs to electric vehicles coming from China. US authorities have long warned about the data security threat posed by China, and the new measure could have repercussions across several sectors, as highlighted in the report.

Chinese analyst Ruan Jiaqi expressed disapproval of the decision, claiming that Gina Raimondo's statements damaged the reputation of Chinese electric car manufacturers, as reported by Asia Times. An example of this is BYD, which achieved great success in Europe and Latin America, but chose to avoid the United States due to the 25% tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese cars in 2019.

Last December, the U.S. Treasury Department released a new list of guidelines for federal subsidies that excluded vehicles with battery components manufactured or assembled by a “foreign entity of interest” (also known as China). Starting in 2025, cars whose batteries contain certain “critical minerals” mined or processed in China will also not be eligible for the tax credit.

Recently, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stated that Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers would have an overwhelming advantage over their competitors if there were no trade barriers.

Huawei case...Since at least 2017, federal authorities have investigated Chinese land purchases near critical infrastructure, closed a high-profile regional consulate that the U.S. government believes is a hotbed for Chinese spies, and thwarted what they saw as clear efforts to plant listening devices near sensitive. military and government installations.

Among the most alarming things the FBI discovered was Chinese-made Huawei equipment installed on cell towers near U.S. military bases in the rural Midwest. According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, the FBI concluded that the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Department of Defense communications, including those used by U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the nation's nuclear weapons.

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