The CBT News Auto Leadership Summit: Fair Pricing & Compliance brought dealers, legal experts and elected officials to the Salamander Hotel in Washington, D.C., on June 16 to discuss the impact of the Federal Trade Commission‘s (FTC) pricing policy on the automotive retail industry. One of the most anticipated sessions of the day brought U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) to the stage for a candid one-on-one conversation with moderator and CBT News co-founder Jim Fitzpatrick.
Moreno is no stranger to the car business. He was a Cleveland-area dealer and co-founded the digital titling company ChampTitles in 2018 before leaving to enter politics.
Since taking office in 2025, Moreno has stayed close to the industry he came from. In April 2026, he and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) introduced the bipartisan Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026, which would bar Chinese-made vehicles and connected components, along with those tied to Russia, Iran and North Korea, from the U.S. market.
A wake-up call
When it comes to the FTC’s pricing crackdown, Moreno doesn’t see it as a threat for dealers, but rather a wake-up call for the industry.
"Their job is to pursue fraud and unfair, deceptive trade practices, and they will do that."
Speaking as a former dealer himself, Moreno told the audience that the easiest way to avoid trouble with the FTC is simply to advertise the car’s real price and stop burying conditions under a price most buyers will never qualify for. He said, “Don’t put conditions on the price that it may or may not be.”
The time to clean up is now
Additionally, Moreno framed this current FTC as one willing to work with the industry. During the discussion, an audience member asked the senator what would happen if a “less-friendly FTC” took over under another administration. Moreno said the best way to protect your dealership from future scrutiny is to clean up pricing issues now, rather than leave it as an issue for future administrations to deal with.
“If we were to have a change in administration, that’s the first thing they would attack. So if we get to that, can we take the air out of that balloon by doing it on our terms, the right way?” Moreno said.
Moreno also drew a clear line between an agency that works to enforce policies on “bad actors” and one that tries to influence the industry. He pointed to the push for electric vehicles as an example of government overreach.
“We saw that with EVs, where they were interjecting themselves between your salesperson and your client,” Moreno said. “All of a sudden, you have the government, and I’m like, no, no, no. You must buy an electric vehicle. If you don’t buy an electric vehicle, we’re going to punish you. And we’re going to incentivize you if you do. And that mixed up the whole equation.”
Then, he argued that the money spent on EV incentives and other programs in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act would have been better spent on the affordability problem instead.
Keeping Chinese cars out
The topic veered away from the FTC’s pricing policy and into international trade after an audience member asked Sen. Moreno whether allowing low-cost Chinese-made cars into the U.S. market would force other automakers to build more affordable cars.
Moreno made it clear that he was emphatically against allowing Chinese cars on U.S. roads for three main reasons:
- The first, he says, is unfair competition, citing the Chinese government’s involvement in the country’s auto industry.
- His second reason centered on the fear that Chinese companies could enter the market and then fail. That, he says, could leave customers without spare parts, and no one to honor a warranty or perform service work.
- His third argument focused on national security. Connected vehicles, he says, are rolling data collectors, and Chinese automakers are legally required to turn that data over to the government. There’s also concern that someone could take control of the vehicles remotely.
Those concerns are the backbone of the Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026, the bipartisan bill he introduced with Sen. Elissa Slotkin to bar Chinese-made vehicles and connected components from American roads.
The best entrepreneurs in America
As the session wrapped up, Moreno reiterated his call to clean up the industry’s image.
“We’re stuck with this nonsensical car business of the 70s and 80s, the stereotype, the green jacket, the purple tie, the clown thing. We’ve got to claw past all that stuff and realize these are very, very sophisticated businesses,” Moreno said.
He pointed to the room as an example. Moreno says few other industries are working this hard to make positive changes. “I wish other industries were as absolutely entrepreneur-minded, forward-looking as car dealers,” Moreno said. “We are the best entrepreneurs in America, by far.”
