I’m perfectly fine with competition. This is the world. I’d buy a cheap Chinese car that passed regulations for driving in my country.
Trying to tariff instead of competing is just delaying the inevitable.
I think the tariffs are because the Chinese government seems to be pumping money into the electric car industry so they can keep prices artificially low and corner the market, then use their market position to extort other countries into giving in to their totalitarian politics. The more dependence we have on China, the more power the CCP wields internationally.
So why aren’t other governments doing something similar?
Our government (Australia) basically told the last couple of brands that manufactured locally to piss off. So they did. So now we have literally zero local manufacturers.
I think most western governments aren’t totalitarian dictatorships that are willing to burn through public funds in order to gain geopolitical advantages over their adversaries.
Do note that if China gains a market advantage, the price will likely go up to reflect the real cost of production.
willing to burn through public funds in order to gain geopolitical advantages over their adversaries.
We can literally do a second round of Cash for Clunkers and create American EV demand
China is definitely pumping money into its manufacturing capabilities, but I don’t think cornering the international market is why.
What appears to be happening is that local officials pushed an industrial development policy to make economic numbers go up. Some provinces got to the point of building factories and leasing them out to companies for that sweet economic growth.
The Chinese national government is trying to find a market for this since it can’t afford for all Chinese local investment to be bad. Developing countries don’t have the funds for the cheap solar output and the other industrialized nations are putting up trade barriers since they are running massive trade deficits with China already.
Alternate title: Car companies about to hit the “find out” part.
