US mulls partial ban on Chinese trains and buses, citing cybersecurity and ‘Made in China 2025’
- Senators have taken the first steps to ban rolling stock manufactured by Chinese companies with state ties as part of the ongoing US-China trade war
- The rail industry is one in which China had been making big inroads into the United States with recent sales to Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago
Trains and buses could be the next battleground in the US-China trade war, after United States senators took the first steps to ban rolling stock manufactured by Chinese companies with state ties.
A bipartisan bill was introduced on Friday that claims “China poses a clear and present danger to our national security and has already infiltrated our rail and bus manufacturing industries”.
It has garnered high profile sponsorship in the form of the Republican chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee, Mike Crapo, and the senior Democrat committee member, Sherrod Brown, who recently ruled himself out of a 2020 presidential run.
The Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act seeks to ban federal funds from being used to buy “railcars or buses manufactured by Chinese owned, controlled, or subsidised companies”.
The US rail industry is one in which China has been making big inroads over recent years. The state-owned China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) has won a number of high profile contracts, using low prices to muscle out rival bids.
