U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is calling for a ban on selling Chinese-made electric vehicles in the U.S. to help protect American jobs.

In a letter to President Biden, the Ohio Democrat wrote: "We cannot allow China to bring its government-backed cheating to the American auto industry."

 Saying such a ban would help combat what he called the economic and national security threats posed by Chinese automakers, the senator warned that Chinese cars, ’made by companies controlled and subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party”, threaten the American auto industry.

Brown says tariffs alone are not enough to stop what he characterized as a government-orchestrated attack on an entire sector of the U.S. economy.

 The Senator’s call for a complete ban comes after former President Donald Trump made a campaign promise to place 100% tariffs on Chinese vehicle imports if he is sent back to the White House.

 "Ohio knows all too well how China illegally subsidizes its companies, putting our workers out of jobs and undermining entire industries, from steel to solar manufacturing,” said Sen. Brown in a news release. “We cannot allow China to bring its government-backed cheating to the American auto industry. The U.S. must ban Chinese electric vehicles now.”

 Brown warned in his letter to the President that the level of government subsidization in the Chinese auto industry would make it impossible for American automakers and autoworkers to compete on a level playing field and would also decimate the United Autoworkers and the union's ability to raise wages and benefits for workers across the auto sector.

Chinese electric vehicles pose a national security risk according to Brown, who claims the technology involved in EVs would give Chinese government access to large amounts of data through these cars.

In February, Republican U.S. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced the Protecting American Autoworkers from China Act that proposes to raise the current 25% tariff on autos to 125%.

Under the legislation the higher tariffs would apply to all imported autos manufactured by Chinese automakers, no matter where the car is manufactured.

 Hawley says the provision would keep Chinese manufacturers from using other nations, such as Mexico, as a backdoor to avoid the new tariffs.