October 29, 2025
Why Chinese Car Investments Are a National-Security Risk
This article was originally published on The Free Press.
As we all await the U.S.-China summit on Thursday, there is an Amy Winehouse test worth applying to Donald Trump’s approach. The test comes from an overlooked Fox News interview last March between Laura Ingraham and Howard Lutnick.
The Fox News host asked the commerce secretary: “Let’s say China comes in and they say, ‘Okay, we’re gonna build stuff in the United States. We want to build automobile companies, our automobiles, in the United States.’ Well, that would kill our car industry. . . . Would you allow that?”
If the U.S. wants to win the competition for technology and security, it must distinguish between productive investment and Trojan horses.
Lutnick didn’t hesitate. “No. That’s what I call an Amy Winehouse—which is no, no, no,” he said with a laugh, alluding to the late songstress’s famous refrain. He continued: “We’ve gotta watch ourselves with the Chinese, because the Chinese are dumpers. What they do is they try to make their industries crush ours, so they can have control of us.”
Lutnick’s answer reflected widespread concerns—in Washington and across U.S. industry—over the national- and economic-security threats posed by China’s galloping advance in the global auto market.
Read the full article in The Free Press.
More from CNAS
-
The Trump-Xi Summit Leaves Taiwan in Limbo
Commentary
Xi used the summit to mark the change Beijing wants. Trump did not publicly grant it. Whether he can keep negotiating with Xi while making Taiwan harder to conquer is now the ...
By Derek Grossman
-
Japan’s New CIA Could Be Takaichi’s Trump Card
Commentary
Intelligence reform may generate fewer headlines than higher defense spending, new missiles, or arms deals, but it represents another consequential way Tokyo is assuming great...
By Derek Grossman
-
America’s Secret Weapon in the Nuclear Race
Commentary
The choice is between an integrated American system that combines public missions with private capital and a fragmented one facing off against China’s coordinated buildup....
By David Feith
-
Commentary
Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
Sharper: China's AI RiseArtificial intelligence has become a strategic priority for Beijing and Washington, yet both countries continue to pursue dramatically different strategies in their bid for gl...
By Charles Horn & Cadence Barker
