Senators Are So Scared Of Chinese EVs In The U.S. They're Crying To Trump About Them

Good morning! It's Monday, April 6, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, Democrats in the Senate are so worried about Chinese EVs being built in the U.S. that they're begging Trump to stop it from happening, the Jeep Gladiator manual is returning for sickos who are into that sort of thing, Tesla gets a big win with its 'actually smart summon' feature and Aston Martin is recalling nearly 4,000 DBX SUVs for a serious suspension issue.

There's a group of Democratic senators so scared of Chinese EVs reaching our shores in any meaningful way that they're going to President Trump on their knees begging him to bar them from coming here and setting up shop. Senators Tammy Baldwin, Elissa Slotkin and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer want Trump to prevent Chinese automakers from building vehicles in the U.S. and prevent Chinese cars assembled in Mexico or Canada from ending up here.

The trio of weenies cited Trump's January comments where he said he was open to Chinese OEMs building U.S. factories. Of course, the bar is already incredibly high for Chinese automakers to actually exist in the U.S., including a pesky little 100% tariff. But, as American consumers are continually faced with U.S. automakers that are less and less interested in building EVs and shown Chinese EVs that are genuinely brilliant, its hard to stop people's interest. From Reuters:

"We must be clear-eyed that inviting China's automakers to set up shop in the ⁠United States would confer an insurmountable economic advantage impossible for American automakers to overcome, and it would trigger a national security ​crisis that could never be reversed," the lawmakers said in a letter to Trump first reported by Reuters.

Asked for comment, the White House ​said "while the administration is always working to secure more investment into America's industrial resurgence, any notion that we would ever compromise our national security to do so is baseless and false."

In January, Trump said he was open to Chinese automakers building vehicles in the United States. "If they want to come ​in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that's great, I love that," he ​told the Detroit Economic Club.

The Biden administration imposed sweeping regulations that effectively ban Chinese automakers from selling passenger vehicles in the United States in January ‌2025, ⁠citing national security concerns linked to the ability of vehicles to collect sensitive data on American owners.

The ban has the strong backing of U.S. carmakers and other auto groups. Last month, auto trade groups representing nearly all major car companies urged the U.S. government to keep Chinese carmakers out of the country ahead of Trump's planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May.

Don't worry, libs. It's not just Democrats who are worried. Republicans in congress are just as against it, despite their free market ideals or whatever. Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno said he would propose legislation to seal off the U.S. so that there was never "a scenario where a Chinese automobile will enter our market, that's hardware, that's software, that's partnerships."

"While a new plant opened by a Chinese automaker in the United States may create ​some assembly and temporary construction jobs, that small number of jobs will not make up for ​the lasting job loss," ⁠the letter from Slotkin, Baldwin and Schumer added.

[...]

The senators ​noted that in February automaker BYD was among a group of companies briefly added to a list of Chinese firms allegedly aiding Beijing's military.

"The administration should move without ​hesitation to designate BYD and other Chinese automakers as military-connected entities," they wrote.

Listen, I'm not nearly as much of a "Every Chinese EV is Better Than Every American EV" guy as some folks in this industry, but even I can admit that this is some really silly stuff. At the end of the day, it's hurting the American consumer, and, if they want to build factories here, it's hurting the American economy as well.

Stellantis just had one really good quarter of selling mostly Durangos, so it's back to feeling all high-and-mighty. That could be the reason why it has decided to bring back the manual option for its Gladiator pickup truck, which it previously dropped following a refresh for the 2025 model year. That move left the Toyota Tacoma as the only manual pickup truck on sale, and I suppose the MOPAR folks decided that just couldn't do. From CarBuzz (specifically, my buddy Jared, who has since been laid off from the job and would be an excellent addition to anyone's newsroom if you're not a fool):

Though he didn't mention the Gladiator by name, Jeep's global head of off-road, Aamir Ahmed, said the manual transmission was still very important to the brand. He mentioned how a manual Wrangler has a superb 100:1 crawl ratio when equipped with the 4.88:1 axle ratio, matching the now-discontinued Wrangler 4xe. Ahmed even went so far to say Jeep will bring back the manual transmission in a model that previously offered it. That can only mean one vehicle: Gladiator.

"We have another car that looks like a Wrangler that's getting its manual back. Stay tuned."

Chatting with Ahmed and Jeep officials at the Easter Jeep Safari, there were no clear answers as to why the six-speed went away. Jeep never made any official statements in the past, either, but the decision was likely made to simplify production during a model changeover. The manual transmission probably had a low take rate, making it an easy option to cut. Now that the updated 2026 Gladiator has been on sale for a couple model years, Jeep may have the confidence to bring the manual back as a low-volume vehicle.

It's also true that things have changed somewhat in the automotive world in the last 12 months or so. Fuel economy and advancements towards electrification aren't the challenges they were previously. In fact, Stellantis killed all its plug-in hybrids for North America before the Gladiator 4xe had a chance to live.

Jeep clearly still has a passion for manual transmissions, even if the public no longer purchases them in large numbers. The American brand showed off a slew of new concept vehicles for the 60th Easter Jeep Safari, including the Wrangler Laredo Concept, which uses a manual transmission. The Laredo is meant to hearken back to simpler Wrangler models like the CJ, most of which were sold with three pedals.

When the manual Gladiator does come back, it'll almost certainly be reunited with the naturally aspirated 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 it was previously teamed up with. While not exactly an inspiring powertrain, its 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque was more than enough to get the job done.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it closed a probe into Tesla's "actually smart summons" feature — which allows owners to remotely move vehicles over a short distance in a parking lot or on private property with their phone. The probe covered nearly 2.6 million vehicles, and it was closed after the investigation revealed that the system was only linked to only a handful of low-speed incidents without any injuries or fatalities. 

Most of the reported incidents involved Tesla hitting obstacles like parked cars, garage doors or gates, which isn't ideal, but also isn't the end of the world. It also usually happened early in a summon session when visibility or situational awareness was limited, so it was really more of a user error issue, from the sound of it. From Reuters:

The NHTSA said the low frequency and severity of the incidents did not warrant further action at this ​time.

However, the agency noted that closing the probe does not mean that a ​safety-related defect did not exist and said it reserves the right to take further action if ‌warranted.

Tesla ⁠has addressed the identified issues through a series of over-the-air software updates aimed at improving obstacle detection, camera blockage identification and vehicle response to dynamic objects such as gates, the regulator said.

The updates also sought to reduce errors caused by environmental factors ​such as snow ​or condensation affecting ⁠cameras.

The regulator last month upgraded a probe into Tesla's Full Self-Driving system to an "engineering analysis," a more advanced stage that typically precedes ​a potential recall and expanded the review to about 3.2 ​million vehicles.

The ⁠move highlights how Tesla's driver-assistance and self-driving features remain under regulatory scrutiny over concerns about crashes, visibility limitations and whether the systems adequately warn drivers in real-world conditions.

Despite the scrutiny, it's really the second win in a row for Tesla from NHTAS. Last month, it rejected a petition that aimed to recall 2.26 million Teslas because of unintended acceleration concerns. Regulators say they found no evidence of a safety defect.

Aston Martin is recalling its DBX SUV for the second time in as many weeks, this time for a pin in the torque reaction link that is susceptible to sliding out of the rear lower suspension arm. When that happens, the arm could crack or shear, which greatly increases the risk of a crash. Aston says that it has received three reports alleging damage to the report lower suspension arm out of the 13,719 DBXs it has sold globally. Now, 3,937 of the SUVs are being recalled in the U.S. From AutoEvolution: 

Of these reports, one alleges a collision with another vehicle that was attributed to brake line damage caused by suspension failure. During the development process, Aston Martin replaced the originally intended bolt for the torque reaction link with a different design. By different, make that a smaller diameter shank.

Not surprising in the least, this change resulted in a mechanical lock mechanism that may allow the pin to slip. Aston Martin first identified a cracked lower suspension arm in June 2023 on a vehicle that was at the time registered in Italy. The other two reports hail from Germany, which is the largest new car market in Europe.

Curiously enough, a revised inspection process with tighter tolerance targets for both the suspension arms and torque link pins had been introduced in January 2025. A few months later, a different bolt for the rear torque link followed suit in DBX production. Affected vehicles were produced in the period from October 24, 2019, through September 9, 2025. The DBX707 is listed with the most units.

The regular DBX and relatively new DBX S are being recalled as well. In the first instance, dealers are to replace the bolts for the torque reaction links in the rear lower suspension arms. In case of any cracks or more serious damage, the arms will be replaced at no charge.

Customer notification should be mailed out through May 29, 2026, however many owners are likely to be called or e-mailed by their dealer by then. It'll be the second call they're getting, since Aston just recalled the 1,091 DBXs because their tire warning light might not illuminate as intended.

History.com

I don't get it? My United flights take way less time than that. Why didn't these guys just go faster?

Alright, for those of you who are dense on this Monday morning, I'm clearly joking. This is a very cool thing to have done 102 years ago. If you want to learn more about this wild journey, head over to History.com.

We're now well into the fifth week of the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran, and there aren't many signs that gas prices will come down anytime soon. WTI Crude Oil prices remain above $110, and Brent Crude isn't far behind. The President's latest comments don't give me much hope things will change quickly, either.

All that is to say that the average price of a gallon of regular gas ticked up again overnight by a cent — going from $4.11 to $4.12, according to AAA. When I last spoke to you on Friday, prices were at $4.09, so the weekend did very little to stop the daily tick-up.

Anyway, for those keeping track, the last time gas was over $4.12 per gallon was back in July of 2022, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. The average price of a gallon of gas is now up $1.14 — or about 32.1% — since the war first broke out on February 28, when it was $2.98.

I hadn't thought about this song in years, then it popped up on my playlist over the weekend and transported me right back to my junior year of college. It's wild how music can just do that in an instant. I'm happy to report it's sitll a banger nine years later.