Ford CEO Jim Farley has presented a proposal to US President Donald Trump which would enable Chinese automakers to build cars in North America.
The proposal, as reported by Automotive News, was shared by the Ford boss with members of the President’s cabinet. It suggested Chinese automakers could build cars in the US through joint ventures with local manufacturers, such as Ford.
Under the plan, profits from the joint ventures would be shared with the US automaker partners, meaning the financial benefits would not flow solely to the Chinese companies.
It mirrors the approach China used to establish its global automotive industry, which saw it overtook Japan in 2025 to become the world’s largest car-making nation. The Chinese strategy dates back to 1983, when BAIC and American automaker AMC partnered to build Jeeps there.
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Joint ventures enabled Chinese manufacturers to learn from established automakers including Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford, through intellectual property and technology sharing arrangements.
Automotive News reported Mr Farley put the idea forward to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin at the 2026 Detroit Auto Show in January.
It further reported Mr Farley wasn’t pushing the joint venture option, but discussed it as a possible option – albeit one that received a “cold reception” from the Trump administration officials, who reportedly felt it would face opposition in Washington.
Ford was reported to have held talks with Chinese automakers including BYD, Xiaomi and Geely about potential plans to build their own models in the US at Ford plants – and possibly at factories in Europe.
No decisions have been made following the Ford CEO’s proposal to the White House, which came after Ford posted its biggest financial full-year loss since the Global Financial Crisis, pointing to tariffs and losses on EVs as major factors.
Joint ventures could see tariffs reduced while also lowering the cost of imported parts required for EV production in the US.
The report follows comments from President Trump in January saying the US should “let China come in”, while Canada recently slashed its tariffs on Chinese EVs from 100 per cent to just 6.1 per cent for the first 49,000 imports per year. South of the border in Mexico, a swarm of Chinese brands now sell vehicles.
BYD, which overtook Tesla to become the world’s best-selling electric vehicle brand in 2025, doesn’t sell cars in the US, with Chinese brands effectively locked out by tariffs and restrictions on Chinese software and hardware.
There are a handful of Chinese-built vehicles offered in the US, however, including the Polestar 2, Buick Envision and Lincoln Nautilus.
The US is the world’s second-largest new-vehicle market behind China, representing a significant opportunity for Chinese brands to cement their place in the global auto industry.
Yet Automotive News reports Ford has stressed “the need to protect our home market from a flood of subsidised vehicles built in China”, while President Trump has recently spoken of “restoring the American dream” through vehicle emissions legislation.
This came with President Trump’s recent repeal of the 2009 ‘endangerment finding’, which declared greenhouse gases an environmental and health hazard, removing emissions regulations and potentially extending the life of internal combustion-powered vehicles.
It has further complicated the outlook for EV sales in the US, already suffering after the removal of federal incentives and the introduction of new tariffs.
The Chinese auto industry has invested heavily in EVs, and Mr Farley himself has had an Xiaomi SU7 as his daily driver in the US. He’s spoken fondly of the car, despite it not being built by either of Ford’s Chinese joint venture partners.
The Ford executive has warned the low cost and high quality offered by Chinese brands could put their American counterparts out of business if they’re allowed unfettered access to the US market.
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