October 29, 2025

Why Chinese Car Investments Are a National-Security Risk

By: David Feith

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

View All Reports View All Articles & Multimedia