Automakers focus on the global market, chide the US over tariffs at Shanghai's auto show

SHANGHAI (AP) — Booths of big Chinese, German and Japanese automakers were bustling at Shanghai’s auto show this week as the industry kept its focus on a wider global market not subject to steep U.S. tariffs on imports of cars and auto parts.

Signs are that U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on auto imports is causing companies to recalibrate their strategies, and in some cases find new opportunities.

“When governments up above are at odds, it's going to impact the businesses down below,” said Ma Lihua, general manager at Soling, a Chinese maker of domain control units and other electronics used in such things as rearview camera displays.

Soling, headquartered in Shanghai, counts Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and many other top tier global and Chinese automakers among its customers. It's also setting up a manufacturing base in Vietnam, whose local electric vehicle maker VinFast has ambitions to become Southeast Asia's leading automaker.

Many of the dozens of auto parts and components companies exhibiting at the Shanghai auto show have operations spanning both the Chinese and world markets.

Metal components maker Gestamp, a supplier of chassis, battery boxes and other key auto parts, has suffered from a slowdown in the U.S. and western European markets but is expanding in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

The tariffs are now an added complication, as automakers watch to see what comes.

“In the past, supply chains usually would run like Swiss clockwork, but now it's the opposite,” Ernesto Barcelo, chief ESG officer for Gestamp, said of the uncertainty now dominating the market.

"The lack of stability now, it's something very ... fluffy," Barcelo said.

A fundamental criteria for investing in any market is political stability, Wei Jianjun, chairman of GWM, or Great Wall Motor Co., told reporters when asked about his company's plans to expand manufacturing overseas. That applies to countries like Hungary, where the company has not yet decided on whether to build a factory, he said, but also to the United States under Trump.

“If a country is not politically stable, it's very risky,” said Wei, who also goes by the name Jack Wey.

With U.S. tariffs so high, GWM can focus elsewhere, such as on trade between China and Europe, which is bound to grow, he said. He didn't address the tariffs of up 45.3% that the EU has imposed on electric vehicles made in China.

Tianshu Xin, CEO of Leapmotor International, a joint venture of Stellantis and China's Leapmotor, said the U.S. market wasn't its first focus.

Now, “we want to monitor the regulatory environment, and also customer preferences are slightly different compared with other markets," Xin said.

Japan's Nissan plans to launch 10 new EVs in China by 2027, nine of them its own brand, and to spend an extra $1.4 billion by the end of 2026 on its expansion there. In the U.S. it has the option to ramp up its spare capacity to make up for reduced imports due to the tariffs.

“Some doors have been shut, but others have been opened,” Ma said. “But any plan you make you will change it very quickly. The market changes very quickly.”

Apart from higher tariffs, automakers and suppliers also must contend with national security restrictions that are an increasingly important factor in auto electronics.

Wuhan Kotei Informatics, which provides software for autonomous driving, adapted its business model to cope with sanctions. Now the company based in central China's Wuhan acts as a consultant and allows foreign customers to adapt software to local requirements, said Ye Xiongfei, general manager for the company's autonomous driving division.

“It’s like I teach you how to walk if you don’t know how to walk, and I will help you walk if you aren’t able to walk,” Ye said.

Some restrictions on technology are understandable, but too many “will hurt the innovation of the U.S. itself, hindering the speed of the development of their supply chains if it tries to only use local companies,” he said.

Some attending the show said they believe that ultimately Trump will end up softening his stance.

“Trump is a businessman and he hopes to boost the U.S. economy by imposing tariffs on other countries, but I do believe those measures are temporary,” said Yang Jingdi, assistant to the CEO of LvXiang Automobile Parts Co., which makes electronics including rearview mirrors and pumps.

“We'll wait and see,” he said. “China has full and abundant supply chains and it is the U.S. that won’t hold on if the tariff measures from both sides remain unchanged.”

AOD Technology, which makes domain control units that process various commands such as opening doors and controlling running boards on SUVs, was displaying a bare-bones version of Tesla's Cybertruck equipped with its devices — evidence of its ambition to eventually sell to the EV maker.

It might not be the best time to be planning on selling such components to a U.S. automaker for production in America, Claire Deng, a senior sales manager, conceded.

But she said AOD, based in south China's Zhongshan, had bought the Cybertruck as part of a process that can take years, developing what's needed to become a supplier.

“Who knows what will happen,” she said. “We want to be ready.”

Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed.

Visitors look at a model of a flying vehicle at the booth for Chinese lithium battery manufacturer CALB during the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Visitors look at auto components made by Japanese auto parts manufacturer Aisin displayed at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A worker stands near a cut out of a wheel at the booth for Schaeffler at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A vlogger who dressed up to look like a humanoid robot reacts at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Auto parts from Chinese manufacturer THB are displayed at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A worker introduces GOVY Air Car from GAC Group displayed at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A wheeled robot and a flying vehicle is displayed at the AION and GAC Group booths at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A man walks past a cut out showing the parts from Chinese auto parts manufacturer CCAG during the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A visitor tries out a driving platform at the booth for auto parts manufacturer Nexteer Automotive during the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A visitor tries out a driving platform at the booth for auto parts manufacturer Nexteer Automotive during the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A visitor tries out a driving platform at the booth for auto parts manufacturer Nexteer Automotive during the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Visitors past by a demonstration of battery switching technology from Chinese battery manufacturer CATL at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Workers stand near a model demonstrating products from the China Automotive Chip Alliance during the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Visitors look at a bare-bones version of Tesla's Cybertruck with devices from AOD Technology, which makes domain control units that process various commands such as opening doors and controlling running boards on SUVs, displayed at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Visitors look at a bare-bones version of Tesla's Cybertruck with devices from AOD Technology, which makes domain control units that process various commands such as opening doors and controlling running boards on SUVs, displayed at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to own Greenland. He has repeatedly said the United States must take control of the strategically located and mineral-rich island, which is a semiautonomous region that's part of NATO ally Denmark.

Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met Thursday in Washington and will meet again next week to discuss a renewed push by the White House, which is considering a range of options, including using military force, to acquire the island.

Trump said Friday he is going to do “something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”

If it's not done “the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way," he said without elaborating what that could entail. In an interview Thursday, he told The New York Times that he wants to own Greenland because “ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO, and Greenlanders say they don't want to become part of the U.S.

This is a look at some of the ways the U.S. could take control of Greenland and the potential challenges.

Trump and his officials have indicated they want to control Greenland to enhance American security and explore business and mining deals. But Imran Bayoumi, an associate director at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said the sudden focus on Greenland is also the result of decades of neglect by several U.S. presidents towards Washington's position in the Arctic.

The current fixation is partly down to “the realization we need to increase our presence in the Arctic, and we don’t yet have the right strategy or vision to do so,” he said.

If the U.S. took control of Greenland by force, it would plunge NATO into a crisis, possibly an existential one.

While Greenland is the largest island in the world, it has a population of around 57,000 and doesn't have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military is dwarfed by that of the U.S.

It's unclear how the remaining members of NATO would respond if the U.S. decided to forcibly take control of the island or if they would come to Denmark's aid.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen has said.

Trump said he needs control of the island to guarantee American security, citing the threat from Russian and Chinese ships in the region, but “it's not true” said Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on the international politics of the Arctic at the Danish Institute for International Studies, or DIIS.

While there are probably Russian submarines — as there are across the Arctic region — there are no surface vessels, Mortensgaard said. China has research vessels in the Central Arctic Ocean, and while the Chinese and Russian militaries have done joint military exercises in the Arctic, they have taken place closer to Alaska, she said.

Bayoumi, of the Atlantic Council, said he doubted Trump would take control of Greenland by force because it’s unpopular with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and would likely “fundamentally alter” U.S. relationships with allies worldwide.

The U.S. already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement, and Denmark and Greenland would be “quite happy” to accommodate a beefed up American military presence, Mortensgaard said.

For that reason, “blowing up the NATO alliance” for something Trump has already, doesn’t make sense, said Ulrik Pram Gad, an expert on Greenland at DIIS.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a select group of U.S. lawmakers this week that it was the Republican administration’s intention to eventually purchase Greenland, as opposed to using military force. Danish and Greenlandic officials have previously said the island isn't for sale.

It's not clear how much buying the island could cost, or if the U.S. would be buying it from Denmark or Greenland.

Washington also could boost its military presence in Greenland “through cooperation and diplomacy,” without taking it over, Bayoumi said.

One option could be for the U.S. to get a veto over security decisions made by the Greenlandic government, as it has in islands in the Pacific Ocean, Gad said.

Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands have a Compact of Free Association, or COFA, with the U.S.

That would give Washington the right to operate military bases and make decisions about the islands’ security in exchange for U.S. security guarantees and around $7 billion of yearly economic assistance, according to the Congressional Research Service.

It's not clear how much that would improve upon Washington's current security strategy. The U.S. already operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, and can bring as many troops as it wants under existing agreements.

Greenlandic politician Aaja Chemnitz told The Associated Press that Greenlanders want more rights, including independence, but don't want to become part of the U.S.

Gad suggested influence operations to persuade Greenlanders to join the U.S. would likely fail. He said that is because the community on the island is small and the language is “inaccessible.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen summoned the top U.S. official in Denmark in August to complain that “foreign actors” were seeking to influence the country’s future. Danish media reported that at least three people with connections to Trump carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

Even if the U.S. managed to take control of Greenland, it would likely come with a large bill, Gad said. That’s because Greenlanders currently have Danish citizenship and access to the Danish welfare system, including free health care and schooling.

To match that, “Trump would have to build a welfare state for Greenlanders that he doesn’t want for his own citizens,” Gad said.

Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations to 200 at the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, Rasmussen said last year. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Thursday that Denmark has neglected its missile defense obligations in Greenland, but Mortensgaard said that it makes “little sense to criticize Denmark,” because the main reason why the U.S. operates the Pituffik base in the north of the island is to provide early detection of missiles.

The best outcome for Denmark would be to update the defense agreement, which allows the U.S. to have a military presence on the island and have Trump sign it with a “gold-plated signature,” Gad said.

But he suggested that's unlikely because Greenland is “handy” to the U.S president.

When Trump wants to change the news agenda — including distracting from domestic political problems — “he can just say the word ‘Greenland' and this starts all over again," Gad said.

CORRECT THE ORDER OF SPEAKERS, FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, left, speak on April 27, 2025, in Marienborg, Denmark. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

FILE - Danish military forces participate in an exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in the Arctic Ocean in Nuuk, Greenland, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

President Donald Trump listens as he was speaking with reporters while in flight on Air Force One, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, as returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrives for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan.6, 2026. (Yoan Valat, Pool photo via AP)

FILE - A plane carrying Donald Trump Jr. lands in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 7, 2025. (Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, file)