US auto industry groups are pressing President Donald Trump to keep Chinese automakers out of the American market, according to a Reuters report, with the lobbying push timed to his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The appeal lands at a moment when the White House has to decide how hard a line to take on Chinese vehicle imports and, more consequentially for US plants, on Chinese-owned manufacturing capacity inside North America. For domestic OEMs and suppliers, the ask is straightforward: keep the competitive wall up, whatever else gets traded away at the summit table.

The timing matters. Trump and Xi are preparing to meet as tariff disputes between Washington and Beijing remain unresolved, and the auto sector fears Chinese market access could become a bargaining chip. Industry groups want the administration to treat Chinese automakers — whether exporting from China or assembling in Mexico or the US — as a structural threat, not a negotiable item.

Chinese brands have not yet made material inroads into US showrooms. But the volume overhang is real: Chinese manufacturers built roughly 30 million vehicles at home last year, more than the combined output of the US, Japan and Germany, and they are actively shopping for North American footholds through Mexico-based assembly. That prospect is what rattles Detroit, its supplier base and the United Auto Workers alike.

For the supplier tier, the stakes cut two ways. Tier 1 suppliers with Chinese-owned customers or joint-venture exposure in Mexico watch any exclusion policy closely; so do US parts makers who would face new Chinese transplant demand if Beijing's brands gain a tariff loophole through Mexican assembly. An outright exclusion would settle that question before the first foundation is poured.

The industry's position also aligns with the current 100% US tariff on Chinese-built vehicles, a rate the Biden administration set and Trump has maintained. Lobbying now focuses on closing the Mexico back door and restricting any future Chinese-owned plant announcements on US soil.

What the automakers cannot control is the summit itself. If Trump trades vehicle-market concessions for progress on fentanyl, export controls or agricultural purchases, the industry's exclusion request loses force. That is why the groups are speaking up in the weeks before the leaders sit down, not after.

What to watch next: whether the Trump-Xi meeting produces any language on auto trade, whether the administration clarifies its position on Chinese-owned assembly in Mexico under USMCA review, and whether any Chinese automaker formally announces a North American plant before Washington shuts the door.