{"id":26644,"date":"2026-05-29T20:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/26644\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T20:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:13:08","slug":"why-mercedes-benz-is-at-risk-of-us-market-ban-under-new-congress-bill-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/26644\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Mercedes-Benz is at risk of US market ban under new Congress bill | Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes-Benz could potentially be barred from selling or manufacturing vehicles in the United States under a new bipartisan bill in Congress<\/a> aimed at restricting automakers with ties to Chinese government-linked ownership, according to a CNBC report.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Mercedes-Benz logo is pictured on the hood of a car. (Unsplash)<\/p>\n

The proposed legislation, titled the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026, seeks to block companies with any direct or indirect equity interest from \u201cforeign-adversary governments\u201d from importing, selling, or producing vehicles in the US.<\/p>\n

China<\/a> is listed in the bill as a foreign adversary, alongside Russia<\/a> and North Korea.<\/p>\n

Why Mercedes-Benz is being flagged<\/p>\n

Concerns arise from Mercedes-Benz\u2019s shareholder structure. Its largest individual shareholder is BAIC, a Chinese state-owned automaker, which holds a 9.98% stake in the company.<\/p>\n

BAIC was formerly known as Beijing Automotive Industrial Corp.<\/p>\n

Also Read: Trump’s staff was forced to destroy phones before leaving China: Here’s why<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition, Chinese billionaire Li Shufu, founder of Geely, holds a 9.69% stake through his investment firm Tenaciou3 Prospect Investment. Combined, the two holdings account for roughly 19.67% of Mercedes-Benz Group AG.<\/p>\n

Sources familiar with the legislation told CNBC that depending on interpretation, this ownership structure could bring Mercedes-Benz under the bill\u2019s restrictions.<\/p>\n

What the bill proposes<\/p>\n

If enacted in its current form, the bill would prohibit affected automakers from importing, selling, or manufacturing vehicles in the US for five years.<\/p>\n

It also includes exemptions for companies that have produced passenger vehicles in the US for at least five years prior to January 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

However, such exemptions may not apply if a company has direct or indirect ownership ties to a foreign-adversary government.<\/p>\n

The legislation is sponsored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie and is currently limited to the House, with no Senate companion bill introduced yet.<\/p>\n

Also Read: A deeper look at US-China security competition<\/a><\/p>\n

Potential wider impact on auto industry<\/p>\n

The ownership threshold could also affect other automakers with Chinese-linked investment exposure, including Volvo, Lotus, Karma Automotive, and Faraday Future.<\/p>\n

Stephen Ezell of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation told CNBC that including Mercedes-Benz in the scope of the bill could create unintended consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Mercedes were to be included in the bill, I think it would be an unintended consequence that could result in the loss of jobs and profits,\u201d Ezell said.<\/p>\n

Mercedes-Benz US operations<\/p>\n

Mercedes-Benz has a significant manufacturing presence in the United States, including major facilities in Alabama and South Carolina.<\/p>\n

The company said its Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant has produced more than five million vehicles since 1997, while its South Carolina facility has produced more than 450,000 passenger vans since 2006.<\/p>\n

The bill is part of a wider push in Washington to limit Chinese influence in critical US industries, particularly automotive manufacturing and connected vehicle technology.<\/p>\n

Industry groups have said they support efforts to strengthen national security but warn that unclear ownership definitions could have unintended consequences for global automakers operating in the US market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mercedes-Benz could potentially be barred from selling or manufacturing vehicles in the United States under a new bipartisan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20951],"tags":[27203,27204,3622,27205,27207,27206],"class_list":["post-26644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mercedes-benz","tag-bipartisan-bill","tag-chinese-government","tag-mercedes-benz","tag-motor-vehicle-modernization-act","tag-us-china","tag-us-congress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}