• The United States Senate Commerce Committee approved legislation on Wednesday to ban sales by automakers with more than 15 percent ownership by Chinese entities.
• The proposed legislation could result in banning the sale of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, since the company has nearly 20 percent ownership by Chinese groups.
• Should the legislation become law as it's currently written, Mercedes would have until at least 2030 to comply but could potentially get waivers to skirt the ban.

The future of Mercedes-Benz in the United States could be in trouble, at least based on newly proposed legislation in the United States Senate. Today, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee approved legislation to ban sales by automakers with more than a 15 percent ownership stake by Chinese entities.

Mercedes, which has a nearly 20 percent ownership stake by Chinese groups, could be affected by the legislation, though an outright ban of the German automaker seems unlikely. Eric Li Shufu, the founder and chairman of Geely, owns 9.7 percent of Mercedes through an investment firm, with the BAIC Group (Beijing Automotive Group) owning another 9.98 percent.

According to a report by Reuters, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), the committee chair, said that the bill requires changes before becoming law. According to the report, the senator directly addressed the potential Mercedes ban, while Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said that the automaker would have until 2030 to comply. Moreno also announced that Mercedes could potentially get waivers that would allow the automaker to skirt the new regulation.

According to the Reuters report, Cruz said that General Motors is pushing for the legislation as a way to remove Mercedes from the picture, thereby making the Cadillac brand more competitive. Despite that, Cruz said, "we would never consider" banning Mercedes-Benz sales in the United States.

The news comes less than a month after Polestar, the Swedish automaker owned by Geely, was informed by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security that starting in 2027, the automaker would no longer be able to sell vehicles in the United States. Despite also being owned by Geely, Volvo said in May that it had received authorization to continue sales, though it also said that it must meet certain regulations to do so.

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Jack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1.
After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf.