US Senate Bill Targeting Chinese Automakers Could Accidentally Ban Mercedes-Benz

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced bipartisan legislation targeting Chinese automakers, but Chairman Ted Cruz warned the bill’s 15 percent Chinese ownership threshold could unintentionally bar Mercedes-Benz from the U.S. market.

The Senate Commerce Committee pushed forward a bipartisan bill Wednesday designed to tighten restrictions on Chinese automakers entering the U.S. market. But there’s a catch that caught the committee’s own chairman off guard: the legislation, as written, could end up blocking Mercedes-Benz from selling cars in America too.

Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, raised the issue during the markup session for the bill, officially called the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026. He explained that the bill sets a 15 percent threshold for Chinese ownership, and Mercedes-Benz happens to fall into that category because two separate Chinese investors together hold nearly 20 percent of the company’s shares.

Cruz made clear this wasn’t the intended target. He told the committee that banning Mercedes-Benz is not something lawmakers would ever actually want to do, and said the bill will need to be revised before it could realistically become law.

According to CNBC, the two largest individual shareholders in Mercedes-Benz are BAIC, a Chinese state owned automaker formerly known as Beijing Automotive Industrial Corp, which holds a 9.98 percent stake, and Li Shufu, the founder of Geely, who owns 9.69 percent.

Senator Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican who introduced the bill alongside Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin, framed the legislation in blunt terms during the markup. He said the goal is to stop what he described as the total destruction of the country’s industrial base.

Moreno addressed the Mercedes-Benz situation during the markup as well, saying the automaker would actually have until 2030 to bring its ownership structure into compliance with the new limit, and that it could also apply for a waiver.

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