Before President Trump’s upcoming meeting with Xi Jinping in China, the European Union announced a ban on public funds flowing into inverters made in China. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress is planning to introduce a bipartisan bill prohibiting Chinese cars from driving on American roads. These moves demonstrate the increasing emphasis on national security by Western countries and the ongoing pressure on the Chinese Communist Party.
President Trump is set to visit China from May 13th to 15th and will hold a summit with Xi Jinping. On the 11th, at the White House, Trump stated that he would bring up topics during the “Trump-Xi Summit” that Xi Jinping doesn’t like to hear about.
In the backdrop of the U.S.-China competition, both Europe and America are taking different actions to increase pressure on the Chinese government.
On May 7th, the U.S. House of Representatives Special Committee on China announced plans to introduce a bipartisan bill this month that would ban Chinese cars from operating on American roads.
On May 4th, the European Union declared a ban on all EU public funding programs from flowing into inverters from “high-risk countries” like China.
Inverters play a crucial role in solar power systems by converting the direct current generated by solar panels into household alternating current to enter the power grid.
Siobhan McGarry, a spokesperson for the European Commission, stated on May 4th: “We have decided to take immediate concrete actions, including the issuance of guidelines restricting EU funding for projects involving inverters from high-risk suppliers.”
An EU official mentioned that China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran are classified as “high-risk countries” by the EU.
This is the most direct action the EU has taken to date, excluding Chinese clean energy hardware from public funding projects. Concerns have grown within the EU about China’s dominance in green technology, fearing that their reliance on Chinese supplies could become a vulnerability.
Currently, Chinese companies supply 80% of inverters globally and dominate the European market. Just two Chinese companies, Huawei and Sungrow, hold a combined market share of over 40% in the photovoltaic and energy storage inverter sectors.
An expert from the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security, Shen Ming-shi, told Dajiyuan that with global heavy reliance on Chinese solar or wind power industries, they could be controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. If conflicts arise between Europe, the U.S., and China in the future, the CCP might weaponize these products as a countermeasure against the West.
According to a report by Reuters in June 2025, U.S. experts discovered unauthorized communication devices, including cellular radios, in Chinese-manufactured solar inverters. These devices could bypass firewalls to remotely shut down inverters or alter settings, disrupting the stability of the grid and potentially causing large-scale outages.
Assistant researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security, Yang Yi-kui, stated to Dajiyuan that European countries are concerned that Beijing could disrupt inverters remotely and even remotely shut down the power system, monitor electricity generation data, and create chaotic situations like power outages or grid instability, turning power systems and grid stability into bargaining chips.
Apart from concerns about grid stability, Shen Ming-shi emphasized the importance of cybersecurity. He noted that although these devices are used in wind or clean energy, they handle and transmit a lot of data, raising concerns about how this data could be used by the CCP in a threatening manner against Europe or the U.S.
Yang Yi-kui added: “Inverters can gather data on electricity generation, consumption, and grid operation, which have intelligence value. Europe is genuinely worried that when these devices enter critical infrastructure in large numbers, they could be transformed into strategic leverage during crises. When these key devices, capable of remote control, are highly concentrated in the hands of Chinese suppliers, energy security risks arise.”
On May 7th, the Chairman of the U.S. House Special Committee on China, Republican Federal Representative John Moolenaar, and Vice Chairman, Democratic Federal Representative Debbie Dingell, released a joint statement saying, “Every car driving on U.S. roads is a mobile data collection device capturing real-time information about location, movements, personnel, and infrastructure. We cannot allow Chinese vehicles or components to be part of this system.”
Earlier at the end of April, a bipartisan bill named the Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026 was introduced by both parties in the Senate, requiring a ban on importing, selling, and operating vehicles produced in China or any countries of concern in the U.S. It also prohibits using Chinese-developed connected vehicle technology, including software and data systems, on American roads.
Moolenaar and Dingell affirmed that they would introduce a corresponding House version to “protect manufacturing, job opportunities, and the American people from China’s predatory trade practices and manipulative attacks on American industries.”
Shen Ming-shi believes that the U.S. restrictions on Chinese cars are primarily due to “national security and cybersecurity considerations,” shifting away from being solely “trade or economic issues” to addressing national security concerns. Therefore, “legislative restrictions on their exports to the U.S. would be a good way.”
In a joint letter dated April 28th, Dingell and 73 Democratic House members urged President Trump, ahead of his visit to China to meet Xi Jinping, to view blocking Chinese cars from entering the U.S. market as a “firm and non-negotiable priority.”
Moolenaar had previously stated during a congressional hearing in December 2025: “China’s automotive industry is not just a business success story; it is a political project of the Chinese Communist Party.”
In May 2024, the former Biden administration raised tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from 25% to 100%. The current Trump administration has added a further 10% global tariff on top of that.
With such high tariffs in place, the market share of Chinese cars in the U.S. is not particularly high. Yang Yi-kui believes that both houses of Congress continue to propose legislation banning Chinese cars to “elevate executive orders into laws.” This legislative action allows for more enforcement budget and stronger execution capabilities to prevent Chinese cars, car software, or autonomous driving systems from potentially entering the U.S. market through assembly in third-party countries.
Furthermore, both experts agree that the short-term impacts of hindering Chinese inverters and cars by Europe and America may not be immediately recognizable, but in the long term, it will undoubtedly strike a blow to China’s domestic industries.
Shen Ming-shi noted that labeling China as a “high-risk country” by the EU serves as a warning to European nations, protecting both the EU countries and dealing a blow to the image of the Chinese Communist Party. It also has significant implications for China’s desire to restore trade relations with EU countries, leading to more EU countries adopting a cautious stance towards China.
(Translated and rewritten into paragraphs with added analysis and implications.)