Sen. Slotkin introduces bill to ban imports of Chinese cars

U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) has introduced a bill that aims to keep Chinese-made vehicles out of the country by empowering the Commerce Secretary to ban imports.

The bill, referred to as the Connected Vehicle National Security Review Act, would establish a national security review process for connected vehicles and connected vehicle components manufactured by companies from China or other countries of concern. 

Aside from worries over cheap vehicles flooding the market, Slotkin says there are concerns over data collection and them posing a threat to national security.

“So a Chinese vehicle made by a Chinese automaker, or the key connected parts that could go in a car that could send that important data back to Beijing,” Slotkin said.

It’s the first piece of legislation for the Holly Democrat since entering the Senate in January.

American-made cars also collect a lot of data by pairing with our smart phones. The same is true for other tech giants like Facebook and Google. Slotkin says that’s different because those companies are subject to laws here in the U.S.

“If some character in the company uses that [information] for nefarious purposes, they could be prosecuted. They could be gone after here in the United States, by American courts,” She said. “That is not the case if a Chinese company was collecting all kinds of data on you and sending it back to Beijing.”

The bill has already found bipartisan support in the Senate and Slotkin is optimistic it will pass.

Hoekstra confirmed as US ambassador to Canada

There’s been a call for Democrats to push back harder against the plans of the Trump administration.

However, that did not extend to the confirmation of Pete Hoekstra to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Canada. The former Congressman and chair of the Michigan Republican Party received the backing of both of Michigan’s Democratic Senators — Slotkin and Gary Peters.

Slotkin felt it was an easy choice, even though Hoekstra had been working to elect her opponent.

“Our relationship with Canada right now is as fraught and messy and upsetting as I’ve ever seen it in my entire lifetime,” Slotkin said. “So who do I want in Ottawa pushing back on President Trump’s kind of blanket approach to Canada? I want a Michigander who understands Michigan’s economy, Michigan’s agriculture, Michigan’s manufacturing.”

Slotkin has voted to confirm members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, including Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. She was hardly alone. Rubio was confirmed unanimously. However, since taking the job, Rubio has led the charge to remove people from this country whose views do not align with the Trump administration.

Rubio also oversaw the extraordinary rendition of men sent to an El Salvador prison without due process.

“Marco Rubio was someone who was a senator and served on these national security committees for a long time, and I think what you’re seeing is just the pure dominance of the Trump White House and making policy over the heads of these cabinet level officials,” Slotkin said.

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration should “facilitate” the return of one man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Slotkin says this sets up a Constitutional crisis.

“The president has not been obeying a number of court orders, right, not just on this, on a bunch of other things,” she said. “The constitution has three co-equal branches of government. It means that we’re going to have to have a showdown about whether he obeys this court order, and a few others.”

How far will that showdown go?

“Obviously, we never want to get to the point of conflict and violence,” Slotkin said. “But the average citizen can’t ignore a court order. The average business can’t do it. So this administration is going to have their moment here, and the courts are going to have their moment as well.”