WASHINGTON A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers want the Biden administration to hike tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles and investigate taking steps to prevent Chinese companies from exporting to the United States from Mexico.

Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican who chairs a select committee on China, and the panel's top Democrat, Raja Krishnamoorthi and two other lawmakers urged U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai in a letter to boost the current 25% tariff on Chinese vehicles.

"It is critical that tariffs on (Chinese) automobiles not only be maintained but also increased to stem the expected surge in (Chinese) imports," they wrote in the previously unreported letter.

(Reporting by David Shepardson)