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US Senate Bill Targeting Chinese Automakers Could Accidentally Ban Mercedes-Benz
Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.
The Senate Commerce Committee pushed forward a bipartisan bill Wednesday designed to tighten restrictions on Chinese automakers entering the U.S. market. But there's a catch that caught the committee's own chairman off guard: the legislation, as written, could end up blocking Mercedes-Benz from selling cars in America too.
Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, raised the issue during the markup session for the bill, officially called the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026. He explained that the bill sets a 15 percent threshold for Chinese ownership, and Mercedes-Benz happens to fall into that category because two separate Chinese investors together hold nearly 20 percent of the company's shares.
Cruz made clear this wasn't the intended target. He told the committee that banning Mercedes-Benz is not something lawmakers would ever actually want to do, and said the bill will need to be revised before it could realistically become law.
According to CNBC, the two largest individual shareholders in Mercedes-Benz are BAIC, a Chinese state owned automaker formerly known as Beijing Automotive Industrial Corp, which holds a 9.98 percent stake, and Li Shufu, the founder of Geely, who owns 9.69 percent.
What the Bill Is Actually Trying to Do
At its core, the legislation would turn existing federal restrictions into permanent law, aiming to keep Chinese linked vehicle technology out of American cars. The concern driving this is national security, specifically the worry that connected vehicles could be used to collect sensitive data.
Senator Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican who introduced the bill alongside Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin, framed the legislation in blunt terms during the markup. He said the goal is to stop what he described as the total destruction of the country's industrial base.
Mercedes-Benz's Position and a Path to Compliance
Mercedes-Benz has not commented directly on the bill, but the company has pointed out that it employs more than 10,000 people in the United States and runs assembly plants in both Alabama and South Carolina.
Moreno addressed the Mercedes-Benz situation during the markup as well, saying the automaker would actually have until 2030 to bring its ownership structure into compliance with the new limit, and that it could also apply for a waiver.
An Accusation Aimed at GM
The markup session also produced a sharper exchange when Cruz turned his attention to General Motors. He accused the automaker of backing the ownership provision specifically as a way to push Mercedes-Benz out of the American market and give Cadillac a competitive edge. Cruz stated plainly that he believes GM is pushing for this provision in order to force Mercedes-Benz out of the market entirely.
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Sagar Kar author
Sagar is a journalist with an interest primarily in geopolitics and American domestic politics. Before joining Times Now, he wrote for Republic and Sw... View More
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