Volvo Cars got some welcome news from the US Department of Commerce yesterday. The government has told the Swedish automaker, which is partly owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding, that it may import connected cars into the US, despite a ban on such vehicle software with Chinese links from model year 2027 onward.

Protectionism is nothing new to the US automotive segment; the absence of foreign-built pickup trucks on US roads is still a consequence of 1964's "chicken tax," for example. More recently, in a rare example of bipartisanship, the focus has been on keeping China out. In 2024, then-President Biden first levied a 100 percent tariff on Chinese imports, followed by a new Commerce rule that prohibited imports of any connected vehicles built by companies owned by or with links to China.

The following year, the Trump administration entered office with very different overall priorities, but there was little daylight between the two on the topic of Chinese cars; the ban would go into effect for software from model year 2027 as planned, with connected vehicle hardware forbidden from model year 2030 onward. Automakers can petition the government for an exemption, though, and it seems they will be granted.

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