LANSING, Michigan — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain blasted the idea of the federal government allowing a Chinese company to manufacture cars in the United States, something President Donald Trump recently suggested might be possible.

At a UAW conference on Sept. 15 in downtown Lansing, Fain said Trump's comments represented "a slap in the face to American workers."

"We shouldn't be doing business with countries that ... basically want slave labor," Fain told reporters.

On Sept. 9, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Michigan, posted on social media that she was hearing "rumors" that Trump, a Republican, was planning to allow Chinese cars to be sold in the U.S., "as part of a larger deal he’s putting together."

Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked the president about Slotkin's tweet during an interview last week. Trump initially said the idea was a "phony rumor" and contended Slotkin was doing a "terrible job."

"If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I'd be OK with it," Trump added in the interview. "Japan does it. But they hire our people."

Trump said he doesn't want to see China build plants in Mexico and ship the vehicles across the southern border into the U.S.

Trump's openness to Chinese automakers manufacturing vehicles in the U.S. is not a new position. He has signaled such openness for years, including on the campaign trail as he sought a return to the White House in 2024.

"If they want to come in, and build the plant, and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that's great," Trump told the Detroit Economic Club in January 2026. "I love that. Let China come in. Let Japan come in. They are, and they'll be building plants, but they're using our labor."

At the UAW conference in Lansing on Sept. 15, Fain said China's involvement in the auto industry would be a national security issue.

"I'm always amazed ... at election time, when certain political parties and politicians want to talk about communists and how evil communism is, but every time it comes time to do business, they're standing there at the door with their hand out, waiting to make money off of it," Fain said.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor also spoke at the UAW event in Lansing. He told reporters that Trump's political rise was supposed to be about defeating China.

"It feels like a huge capitulation," El-Sayed said.

The UAW has been one of El-Sayed's biggest backers in his bid to win Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat. He faces Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in the closely watched race.

In a statement on Sept. 15, Alyssa Brouillet, spokeswoman for Rogers' campaign, said Rogers firmly believes "Chinese cars should not be allowed to be made in the United States."

"We can't let the Chinese Communist Party undercut the Big Three here in Michigan," Brouillet said. "Mike has worked on an auto factory floor; there is no one who understands the value of Michigan auto jobs or the national security stakes better than Mike Rogers."

Slotkin and Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno have pushed a bipartisan bill in recent months seeking to affirmatively ban the sale of Chinese vehicles in the United States for both economic and national security reasons.

There is a related bill in the U.S. House, which is sponsored by Michigan U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat, and John Moolenaar, a Republican.

Many in the auto industry fear that Trump will allow China to make further inroads toward manufacturing vehicles in the United States on Sept. 24, when Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the White House.

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