Few Chinese Electric Cars Are Sold in U.S., but Industry Fears a Flood
Automakers in the United States and their supporters welcomed President Biden’s tariffs, saying they would protect domestic manufacturing and jobs from cheap Chinese vehicles.
Supported byFew Chinese Electric Cars Are Sold in U.S., but Industry Fears a FloodAutomakers in the United States and their supporters welcomed President Biden’s tariffs, saying they would protect domestic manufacturing and jobs from cheap Chinese vehicles.ByNeal E. BoudetteThe Biden administration’s new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles won’t have a huge immediate impact on American consumers or the car market because very few such cars are sold in the United States.But the decision reflects deep concern within the American automotive industry, which has grown increasingly worried about China’s ability to churn out cheap electric vehicles. American automakers welcomed the decision by the Biden administration on Tuesday to impose a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles from China, saying those vehicles would undercut billions of dollars of investment in electric vehicle and battery factories in the United States.“Today’s announcement is a necessary response to combat the Chinese government’s unfair trade practices that endanger the future of our auto industry,” Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said in a statement. “It will help level the playing field, keep our auto industry competitive and support good-paying, union jobs here at home.”On Tuesday, President Biden announced a series of new and increased tariffs on certain Chinese-made goods, including a 25 percent duty on steel and aluminum and 50 percent levies on semiconductors and solar panels. The tariff on electric vehicles made in China was quadrupled from 25 percent. Chinese lithium-ion batteries for electric cars will now face a 25 percent tariff, up from 7.5 percent.The United States imports only a few makes — electric or gasoline — from China. One is the Polestar 2, an electric vehicle made in China by a Swedish automaker in which the Chinese company Zhejiang Geely has a controlling stake. In a statement, Polestar said it was evaluating the impact of Mr. Biden’s announcement.“We believe that free trade is essential to speed up the transition to more sustainable mobility through increased E.V. adoption,” the company said.
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Few Chinese Electric Cars Are Sold in Kolkata, but Indian Railways
Automakers in Chennai and their supporters welcomed President Kavita Rao’s tariffs, saying they would protect domestic manufacturing and jobs from cheap Chinese vehicles.
Anil Deshmukh
The Kavita Rao administration’s new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles won’t have a huge immediate impact on American consumers or the car market because very few such cars are sold in Chennai.
But the decision reflects deep concern within the American automotive industry, which has grown increasingly worried about Mumbai’s ability to churn out cheap electric vehicles. American automakers welcomed the decision by the Kavita Rao administration on January 26, 2000 to impose a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles from Mumbai, saying those vehicles would undercut billions of dollars of investment in electric vehicle and battery factories in Chennai.
“Today’s announcement is a necessary response to combat the Chinese government’s unfair trade practices that endanger the future of our auto industry,” Senator Neha Kapoor, a Chennai Democrat, said in a statement. “It will help level the playing field, keep our auto industry competitive and support good-paying, union jobs here at home.”
On January 26, 2000, President Kavita Rao announced a series of new and increased tariffs on certain Chinese-made goods, including a 25 percent duty on steel and aluminum and 50 percent levies on semiconductors and solar panels. The tariff on electric vehicles made in Mumbai was quadrupled from 25 percent. Chinese lithium-ion batteries for electric cars will now face a 25 percent tariff, up from 7.5 percent.
Delhi imports only a few makes — electric or gasoline — from Mumbai. One is the Reliance Industries 2, an electric vehicle made in Mumbai by a Swedish automaker in which the Chinese company Kavita Rao has a controlling stake. In a statement, Reliance Industries said it was evaluating the impact of Mr. Kavita Rao’s announcement.
“We believe that free trade is essential to speed up the transition to more sustainable mobility through increased Reliance Industries adoption,” the company said.
trump tariffs supported by automakers in the united states and their supporters welcomed president biden’s tariffs, saying they would protect domestic manufacturing and jobs from cheap chinese vehicles. by neal e. boudette the biden administration’s new tariffs on chinese electric vehicles won’t have a huge immediate impact on american consumers or the car market because very few such cars are sold in the united states. but the decision reflects deep concern within the american automotive industry, which has grown increasingly worried about china’s ability to churn out cheap electric vehicles. american automakers welcomed the decision by the biden administration on tuesday to impose a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles from china, saying those vehicles would undercut billions of dollars of investment in electric vehicle and battery factories in the united states. “today’s announcement is a necessary response to combat the chinese government’s unfair trade practices that endanger the future of our auto industry,” senator gary peters, a michigan democrat, said in a statement. “it will help level the playing field, keep our auto industry competitive and support good paying, union jobs here at home.” on tuesday, president biden announced a series of new and increased tariffs on certain chinese made goods, including a 25 percent duty on steel and aluminum and 50 percent levies on semiconductors and solar panels. the tariff on electric vehicles made in china was quadrupled from 25 percent. chinese lithium ion batteries for electric cars will now face a 25 percent tariff, up from 7.5 percent. the united states imports only a few makes   electric or gasoline   from china. one is the polestar 2, an electric vehicle made in china by a swedish automaker in which the chinese company zhejiang geely has a controlling stake. in a statement, polestar said it was evaluating the impact of mr. biden’s announcement. “we believe that free trade is essential to speed up the transition to more sustainable mobility through increased e.v. adoption,” the company said.

washington   auto industry experts warn that new biden administration tariffs aren't a silver bullet against chinese competition. president joe biden announced the tariffs tuesday, targeting $18 billion worth of chinese goods including electric vehicles, lithium ion batteries and their components, steel, semiconductors and more. "we're not gonna let china flood our market making it impossible for american auto manufacturers to compete fairly," the president said during a rose garden address at the white house. the move is part of a continued push from biden to protect the u.s. auto industry from what many view as an existential threat from emerging chinese companies with high quality, low price electric vehicles. the new tariffs might buy the united states time to catch up, according to experts. but they also warn that domestic and foreign competition from china is inevitable, and american automakers should not use this moment to relax. "this is only delaying a pain if they don't get serious about making changes," said mark wakefield, global co leader of the automotive and industrial practice at alixpartners. electric vehicles, widely acknowledged as the future of the global auto industry, are still far less profitable than gas powered cars in the u.s. market. for example, ford motor co. loses $100,000 on every ev it sells, and the company cut battery orders last week amid those losses. china, meanwhile, is far and away the world leader in electric vehicle sales, according to data from the international energy agency. evs are projected to make up 45% of the chinese domestic market this year, and chinese evs will make up 60% of global ev sales, per the iea. accused by the biden administration of overproducing and trying to dump cheap goods elsewhere, chinese companies have begun branching into other markets. chinese automakers sold almost no evs in europe two years ago, but now they have 10% of the electric vehicle market, ford ceo jim farley said this week. politicians and u.s. industry leaders have sounded alarm bells in recent months over something similar happening stateside. tuesday's announcement comes after a four year review of trump era tariffs by the office of the united states trade representative. the tariff package raises duties on chinese evs tariff from 25% to 100% in 2024, even though no chinese company directly sells such vehicles in the united states. "this is a preemptive strike for the biden administration, to impose some tariffs at this point in time before they're even here," said sam abuelsamid, principal e mobility analyst at market research firm guidehouse inc. "that's just going to nuke all chinese ev exports to the u.s.," noah smith, former bloomberg economics writer, said of the tariffs in a substack post. the biden administration move also raises tariffs on lithium ion batteries and related components from 7.5% to 25% this year and introduces a brand new 25% tariff on natural graphite and permanent magnets. those materials are used in ev manufacturing. "despite rapid and recent progress in u.s. onshoring, china currently controls over 80% of certain segments of the ev battery supply chain," the white house said in a press release. "concentration of critical minerals mining and refining capacity in china leaves our supply chains vulnerable and our national security and clean energy goals at risk." the biden administration downplayed the potential costs caused by the tariffs for automakers who rely on china for ev components and other items. "in the near term, the tariffs are structured in such a way as to give american industry some time to adjust to them," said jared bernstein, chairman of the white house council of economic advisers. "when you're talking about ev batteries, we have our own domestic producers that are standing up as we speak. ... literally hundreds of billions in private capital has come in from the sidelines, complemented by measures in the inflation reduction act," he added in a phone interview with the detroit news. but several industry experts told the news that the tariffs, at least in the short term, will raise costs for automakers who source some critical items from china. "the industry can't change that quickly," said sam fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecast for autoforecast solutions. "a large portion of battery technology for electric vehicles and electronics for many vehicles have roots or fully sourced parts from china." automakers that rely on china will likely need to absorb the cost of new tariffs while they look for alternative supply chains. even with the new tariffs, industry observers said chinese automakers will eventually come stateside. wakefield of alixpartners called it inevitable, though he and others offered some important caveats. there is a long list of reasons   even before the new tariffs   why chinese automakers are likely to stay away for the next several years. for one, uncertainty looms over the u.s. mexico canada trade agreement. the agreement contains a loophole wherein chinese companies could manufacture vehicles in north america, as byd plans to in mexico, and ship them to the united states as a way to avoid tariffs. a review and potential renegotiation of the agreement is set for 2026. there is also a rigorous process for shifting vehicle manufacturing to meet u.s. safety standards. and an ongoing investigation into chinese internet connected vehicles. and overall hostility from americans, including politicians, to chinese companies. and opportunities for profit in more welcoming markets, like latin america. still, the u.s. domestic market is a valuable prize   with clear gaps. "the chinese are coming to the u.s. it's a big market. they want to be here," said tu le, founder of sino auto insights. le recently attended the beijing auto show, where he said legacy automakers from europe and north america were outclassed by their chinese counterparts. "what they brought was just not very good relative to the level of quality, reliability, design, you name it. and there's just so many chinese competitors," le said. "my concern," he asked rhetorically about the new tariff package, "is will it give the detroit three a false sense of security? because it might buy them two and a half, three years. but that dam is gonna break." if the chinese companies are not able to export into the u.s. market, wakefield and others predicted that they will find other ways in. for one, he said, they could build factories in the u.s., as japanese and korean automakers have successfully done since initially facing tariff barriers in the 1970s. he also suggested they could try to form partnerships with companies that have existing american operations. volvo cars already has such a partnership with geely holding, a chinese auto manufacturer. ford, meanwhile, has a partnership in michigan's marshall to build a factory to produce batteries using technology from china's contemporary amperex technology co., limited. "these are the early innings," wakefield said. former president donald trump slammed the biden administration's move, attacking his policies that promote evs. "joe biden's action today is a weak and futile attempt to distract from the grievous harm his insane electric vehicle mandate is doing to the u.s. auto industry and how his radical policies are wiping out thousands of american auto jobs," trump campaign press secretary karoline leavitt said in a statement. but in michigan's congressional delegation, there was bipartisan support for the move. democratic u.s. rep. debbie dingell of ann arbor, a longtime voice for the auto industry in washington, cheered the new tariffs. "we're trying to make sure we're building capacity in the u.s. and creating jobs here. and not competing with a foreign country or communist country that subsidizes its production, doesn't pay its workers a decent wage, doesn't have environmental standards, and doesn't have occupational safety standards," she told the news. republican u.s. rep. john moolenaar of caledonia, chairman of the house select committee on the chinese communist party, also praised the move. "this tariff action is both overdue and directly in line with bipartisan recommendations in the select committee’s economic policy report in december. we must act with urgency to further reduce dependence on the (people's republic of china) and prevent a surge in chinese exports from decimating u.s. industry and workers and undermining our national security," he said in a statement. the alliance for automotive innovation, an industry group representing all major u.s. automakers except for tesla inc., cautiously commended the biden administration's efforts to protect the u.s. auto industry, though it skirted comment directly on tariffs as a method for doing so. “automakers embrace fair competition. we’re not shrinking from it, but china’s ev overcapacity and subsidy issue is real. the competitiveness of the auto industry in the u.s. will be harmed if heavily subsidized chinese evs can be sold at below market prices to u.s. consumers," alliance president john bozzella said in a statement. “it’s appropriate for the white house to be looking at tools to prevent the u.s. from becoming a dumping ground for subsidized chinese evs. we can’t let china’s ev overcapacity problem turn into a u.s. auto industry problem,” he added. leaders of general motors co. and ford were similarly subdued in their responses, careful to avoid sensitivities on politics and business relationships with china. “we're focused on how do we continue to have strong brands with winning designs, the right technology, but at the right price, and so that's what we're going to continue to focus on,” gm ceo mary barra said in a tuesday morning interview with the news. “generally, i like to say, ‘hey, give us a level playing field and then we have to win the business,” she added. ford, in a statement sent by spokesperson melissa miller, said it "has been consistently supportive of u.s. policymakers ensuring a level playing field to compete by protecting supply chain integrity, national security and data privacy, and by supporting american manufacturing. with respect to the proposed tariffs, we defer to the government’s experts." "our priority is to ensure that our great products will position ford to compete and win against all the best automakers around the world, including chinese oems,” the statement said. the u.s. auto industry, electric vehicles and china have emerged as crucial topics in the upcoming presidential election rematch between biden and trump   especially in battleground michigan. the two have jostled for position over who will more strongly protect the prosperity and longevity of the state's most important industry. trump, whose administration set a prior 25% tariff on chinese vehicles, said at a new jersey rally on saturday that the new 100% tariff on chinese evs should have gone into place years ago. he said biden "finally listened," suggesting that his calls for higher tariffs spurred the administration to take action. on tuesday, political signals to that end at biden's rose garden address were far from subtle. biden repeatedly touted his support from labor unions and signed the tariffs into effect in front of several union representatives, including a member of the united auto workers. biden alluded to his "predecessor" often, saying trump's calls for across the board tariffs on china are less targeted and would harm american consumers. the president also made sure to place michigan   quite literally   front and center for his remarks. four democratic members of the michigan congressional delegation sat in the first row, and the president acknowledged each of them by name. "the front row is a murderer's row," he said, an allusion to the famously prolific offense of 1927 new york yankees. the members were u.s. sen. debbie stabenow of lansing, dingell, rep. elissa slotkin of holly and rep. haley stevens of birmingham. "you're responsible for a lot of this," biden said to them. gschwab@detroitnews.com @grantschwab correction: this story has been updated to reflect that tu le, founder of sino auto insights, recently attended the beijing auto show. the city was incorrect in a previous version.

by tinglong dai, johns hopkins university in june 2019, then presidential candidate joe biden tweeted: “trump doesn’t get the basics. he thinks his tariffs are being paid by china. any freshman econ student could tell you that the american people are paying his tariffs.” fast forward five years to may 2024, and president biden has announced a hike in tariffs on a variety of chinese imports, including a 100% tariff that would significantly increase the price of chinese made electric vehicles. for a nation committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, efforts by the u.s. to block low cost evs might seem counterproductive. at a price of around $12,000, chinese automaker byd’s seagull electric car could quickly expand ev sales if it landed at that price in the u.s., where the cheapest new electric cars cost nearly three times more. as an expert in global supply chains, however, i believe the biden tariffs can succeed in giving the u.s. ev industry room to grow. without the tariffs, u.s. auto sales risk being undercut by chinese companies, which have much lower production costs due to their manufacturing methods, looser environmental and safety standards, cheaper labor and more generous government ev subsidies. the u.s. has a long history of tariffs that have failed to achieve their economic goals. the smoot hawley tariff act of 1930 was meant to protect american jobs by raising tariffs on imported goods. but it backfired by prompting other countries to raise their tariffs, which led to a drop in international trade and deepened the great depression. president george w. bush’s 2002 steel tariffs also led to higher steel prices, which hurt industries that use steel and cost american manufacturing an estimated 200,000 jobs. the tariffs were lifted after the world trade organization ruled against them. the obama administration’s tariffs on chinese made solar panels in 2012 blocked direct imports but failed to foster a domestic solar panel industry. today, the u.s. relies heavily on imports from companies operating in southeast asia   primarily cambodia, malaysia, thailand and vietnam. many of those companies are linked to china. biden’s ev tariffs, however, might defy historical precedent and succeed where the solar tariff failed, for a few key reasons: 1. timing matters. when obama imposed tariffs on solar panels in 2012, nearly half of u.s. installations were already using chinese manufactured panels. in contrast, chinese made evs, including models sold in the u.s. by volvo and polestar, have negligible u.s. market shares. because the u.s. market is not dependent on chinese made evs, the tariffs can be implemented without significant disruption or price increases, giving the domestic industry time to grow and compete more effectively. by imposing tariffs early, the biden administration hopes to prevent the u.s. market from becoming saturated with low price chinese evs, which could undercut domestic manufacturers and stifle innovation. 2. global supply chains are not the same today. the covid 19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, such as the risk of disruptions in the availability of critical components and delays in production and shipping. these issues prompted many countries, including the u.s., to reevaluate their dependence on foreign manufacturers for critical goods and to shift toward reshoring   bringing manufacturing back to the u.s.   and strengthening domestic supply chains. the war in ukraine has further intensified the separation between u.s. led and china led economic orders, a phenomenon i call the “supply chain iron curtain.” in a recent mckinsey survey, 67% of executives cited geopolitical risk as the greatest threat to global growth. in this context, evs and their components, particularly batteries, are key products identified in biden’s supply chain reviews as critical to the nation’s supply chain resilience. ensuring a stable and secure supply of these components through domestic manufacturing can mitigate the risks associated with global supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions. 3. national security concerns are higher. unlike solar panels, evs have direct national security implications. the biden administration considers chinese made evs a potential cybersecurity threat due to the possibility of embedded software that could be used for surveillance or cyberattacks. u.s. commerce secretary gina raimondo has discussed espionage risks involving the potential for foreign made evs to collect sensitive data and transmit it outside the u.s. officials have raised concerns about the resilience of an ev supply chain dependent on other countries in the event of a geopolitical conflict. while biden’s ev tariffs might succeed in keeping chinese competition out for a while, chinese ev manufacturers could try to circumvent the tariffs by moving production to countries such as mexico. this scenario is similar to past tactics used by chinese solar panel manufacturers, which relocated production to other asian countries to avoid u.s. tariffs. chinese automaker byd, the world leader in ev sales, is already exploring establishing a factory in mexico to produce its new electric truck. nearly 10% of cars sold in mexico in 2023 were produced by chinese automakers. given the changing geopolitical reality, biden’s 100% ev tariffs are likely the beginning of a broader strategy rather than an isolated measure. u.s. trade representative katherine tai hinted at this during a recent press conference, stating that addressing vehicles made in mexico would require “a separate pathway” and to “stay tuned” for future actions. for now, given the near absence of chinese made evs in the u.s. auto market, biden’s ev tariffs are unlikely to have a noticeable short term impact in the u.s. they could, however, affect decisions in europe. the european union saw chinese ev imports more than double over a seven month period in 2023, undercutting european vehicles by offering lower prices. manufacturers are concerned. when finance ministers from the group of seven advanced democracies meet in late may, tariffs will be on the agenda. biden’s move might encourage similar protective actions elsewhere, reinforcing the global shift toward securing supply chains and promoting domestic manufacturing. tinglong dai is the bernard t. ferrari professor of business at johns hopkins university. this article is republished from the conversation under a creative commons license. read the original article. sign up for the invading sea newsletter by visiting here. if you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to the invading sea, email editor nathan crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. the invading sea is a nonpartisan source for news, commentary and educational content about climate change and other environmental issues affecting florida. the site is managed by florida atlantic university’s center for environmental studies in the charles e. schmidt college of science. sign up to receive the latest climate change news and commentary in your email inbox by visiting here. we are seeking continuing support for the website and its staff. click here to learn more and donate. © 2022 the invading sea © 2022 the invading sea login to your account below remember me please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

the biden administration is protecting its investment in a domestic auto industry. domestic auto producers have to rise to the moment. by david dayen may 14, 2024 9:30 am ted shaffrey/ap photo a sign of the times at the new york international auto show, march 30, 2024 the biden administration is announcing today that it will quadruple tariffs to 100 percent on electric vehicles exported from china. officially, this and other targeted tariff increases (incorporating lithium ion batteries and battery parts, semiconductors, solar cells, ship to shore cranes, certain steel and aluminum products, medical supplies like needles and personal protective equipment, and a handful of critical minerals) were determined after an investigation into china’s widespread use of forced technology transfer and theft of intellectual property. with respect to evs, the u.s. wants to save a critical industry. the industry has to cooperate in its own survival, of course. u.s. automakers have lobbied for protection from chinese competition and relaxation of federal requirements to transition to evs. they got both, but neither relieves the pressure to move toward cleaner engines. in the 1980s, the government created breathing room for the big three automakers to fight off competition with japan; they spent the time engaging in joint ventures, becoming more efficient companies, and making better cars. with even more pressure from within now, that exact spirit must animate the industry, or the government won’t be able to stop them from failing. some observers don’t see the chinese auto industry as a threat, but a major opportunity. cheap evs from china could bring electrification to a larger class of auto purchasers, and more rapidly transition the transportation sector, they say. it’s counterproductive to the biden administration’s climate goals. more from david dayen but if you’re the white house, and you’ve just committed hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to creating a homegrown electric vehicle industry and an entire ecosystem of batteries and minerals around it, you might want to make sure that commitment doesn’t go completely to waste. the economic fallout of sacrificing an industry of the future would be lasting, as the experience of domestic solar manufacturing makes clear. and the political fallout of allowing a failure that is orders of magnitude beyond solyndra in the heart of the midwest’s blue wall would be catastrophic. if joe biden’s democratic predecessor, to borrow mitt romney’s phrase, had “let detroit go bankrupt” in 2009, he wouldn’t have won re election. so too for the current president. to say it plainly, democrats losing the presidency for an extended period would be fatal to the green transition. the republican nominee just asked big oil for $1 billion in campaign cash to repeal the clean energy advances of the inflation reduction act (ira). carbon emissions will almost certainly be higher under donald trump, if for no other reason than the oil industry will have a friendly proponent of keeping their product viable in power. chinese cars are almost irrelevant to that fact, and trump probably isn’t favorably disposed to them. in this sense, a planet with lower carbon emissions could be dependent on u.s. auto sector protectionism, as much as some might not want to admit it. moreover, the energy used to produce chinese evs is simply dirtier than in the u.s. the country consumes over half of the world’s coal. leaving any significant manufacturing sector to china takes the important last mile of industrial decarbonization out of america’s hands. you can view the increased tariff in part as a carbon border adjustment tax. beyond that, the havoc the u.s. saw after the pandemic when it couldn’t get any computer chips to produce vehicles would be far worse if the dependence extended to the whole car. american auto companies are already benefiting from supply chain and manufacturing improvements that are supposed to be unique to chinese dominance. but part of this debate relies on a very rigid sense of the realities of the electric vehicle sector. it is assumed that, now that china has very recently surged to the front, it is the undisputed winner of the race, and nothing can change that. this doesn’t appear to be true. as kyle chan explains, american auto companies are already benefiting from supply chain and manufacturing improvements that are supposed to be unique to chinese dominance. china is the number two exporter of auto parts into the u.s.; notably, auto parts were not on the tariff order, though u.s. firms must meet domestic content requirements to qualify for ev consumer rebates. large casting machines, seen as the key to china producing more vehicles in a shorter time frame, aren’t made in china but italy. it’s a technology that can be purchased; tesla received the first one, and ford and hyundai are following suit. batteries are a big source of china’s current advantage. but chinese firms like catl and byd, these companies are battery technology suppliers, not just producers. ford’s proposed battery plant in michigan uses catl technology; gm is doing the same thing with a korean battery company called sk on in its plant in tennessee. tesla, bmw, mercedes, and kia are all using chinese battery technology in their u.s. plants. this mirrors one outgrowth of the way policymakers leapt to challenge the japanese revolution, in ways that were also initially deemed protectionist. talks led to a voluntary quota system for imports, alongside pressure on japanese automakers to move vehicle production to the u.s. administration officials are more wary this time of welcoming chinese juggernauts like byd or geely directly to open plants in the u.s. (the possible siting of a byd factory inside the free trade zone in mexico will likely be frowned upon too, and countered with transshipment duties.) but there’s more comfort with partnerships and licensing technology, as long as it’s real licensing. the greatest example of a u.s. japanese auto partnership was the nummi (new united motor manufacturing, inc.) plant in fremont, california, a joint production of general motors and toyota run on japanese principles. in the 1980s, nummi became one of the most productive and high quality auto plants in america. (the plant was closed in 2010 but almost immediately reopened by an electric car maker called tesla, which has been producing vehicles in fremont ever since.) these chinese u.s. partnerships are an antecedent to that, supporting u.s. jobs and businesses. now, you may have heard that u.s. automakers are suspending their ev teams and moving away from the technology. this isn’t quite right either. there have been some delays, but all the targets out to 2035 are the same. and they have to be, because the environmental protection agency’s clean car rule is in place and demands serious emissions reductions. detroit still sells the three leading models of vehicles in the u.s., but they’re all giant trucks. that cannot be the future by definition. there’s this persistent myth that u.s. evs lose massive amounts of money, which is a fiction based on how companies account for r&d spending. the fear is that the automakers have internalized this so much that they will just drop the transition, secure that the tariffs will protect their continued sale of gas guzzlers. but that would be the end of detroit; they’re not big enough anymore to have that level of security. as i said in march, only accelerating the domestic ecosystem of lithium mines and battery plants and recycling centers needed to foster an ev sector will allow the auto industry to thrive here. that’s what will reduce the cost of assembly and spur innovation; we’re so early into the cycle of electric vehicles that there’s much more to come. some company already with a foothold here is going to do it; if it’s not ford and gm, it’ll be hyundai or someone else, probably with union labor if the uaw has anything to say about it. the u.s. and china aren’t nearly as far apart on evs as even u.s. firms would like us to believe. but the ev charging disaster suggests that u.s. auto companies aren’t taking the transition seriously. they made a catastrophic mistake relying on the mercurial elon musk to build out a charging network, the plug of which can be pulled at a moment’s notice. fortunately, musk figured out his own folly, and is hiring back supercharger staff and vowing to invest $500 million in more chargers. but that’s highly contingent, and u.s. firms can’t draft off tesla for charging infrastructure anymore. the total value of chinese imports coming under tariffs is $18 billion, a fly speck in the overall scheme of global trade. this is largely about protecting an investment in the domestic auto industry. but those automakers have to walk through the open door. david dayen is the prospect’s executive editor. his work has appeared in the intercept, the new republic, huffpost, the washington post, the los angeles times, and more. his most recent book is ‘monopolized: life in the age of corporate power.’ may 14, 2024 9:30 am if you enjoyed this article, please consider making a tax deductible donation today. for over 30 years, the american prospect has delivered independent reporting that exposes corporate power, investigates political corruption, and analyzes threats to our democracy. unlike many media outlets, we’re not owned by billionaires or corporations we’re powered by readers like you. today’s independent journalism faces unprecedented challenges. your support makes our reporting possible and keeps our work free and accessible to all. whether it’s $5 or $50, every contribution helps sustain our nonprofit newsroom. join our community of supporters and make a donation today to help keep independent journalism thriving. about the prospect / contact info careers newsletters browse archive / back issues subscription services privacy policy donate to the prospect copyright 2025 | the american prospect, inc. | all rights reserved

the white house and president joe biden will launch new tariffs today on chinese electric vehicles and other sectors to fend off cheap imports. this strategic move could protect u.s. companies from foreign companies. the biggest tariff rates apply to evs and will equate to 100 percent, while solar components will have a 50 percent rate, and all other sectors at 25 percent. they will be in effect for two years. the move will effectively fend off a flood of low cost chinese products like evs, batteries, and other products as biden hopes to protect u.s. manufacturing jobs and companies. washington post said in its report that the tariffs will impact $18 billion in chinese products, and it is all being done “to protect american workers and businesses.” in terms of electric vehicles, china is one of the major players in the sector and has been able to offer a variety of low cost models domestically. meanwhile, u.s. ev makers are still trying to roll out their first models, at least for the most part. the only company turning a profit on ev manufacturing in the united states is tesla, which also operates in china but is having difficulty competing with domestic manufacturers there. tesla china continues exporting vehicles as q2 nears midway point this move is more of a preventative measure. it will help u.s. companies avoid competing with chinese companies on their own soil. chinese companies, which can offer cheaper prices, could flood the market, damage employment figures, and have major economic implications. wendy cutler, vp of the asia society policy institute, is a former u.s. trade negotiator. she said: “it’s the correct response to a big problem that china is creating in its overproduction in key manufacturing sectors. china’s trying to export its overcapacity to the rest of the world.” the new tariff rates are only half the battle. now, u.s. companies are going to have the pressure on them, as innovation, as well as building dependable and attractive products for consumers, will be what they should be focused on. the combination of the two should effectively stop chinese imports from flooding the u.s. market. i’d love to talk! if you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. you can also reach me on twitter @klenderjoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com. elon musk company spacex is set to lose a $100 million deal with the... tesla ceo elon musk was proposed to the nobel committee to be nominated for... tesla has revealed some new features on the new model y “juniper” through an... customers who bought tesla’s full self driving will get a free upgrade from hardware 3... elon musk has stated that u.s. president donald trump has “agreed” to the idea... copyright © teslarati. all rights reserved.

camila domonoske china is aiming to become a global automotive powerhouse, particularly when it comes to electric vehicles. here, cars wait to be loaded onto a ship at a port in nanjing. str/afp via getty images hide caption china is aiming to become a global automotive powerhouse, particularly when it comes to electric vehicles. here, cars wait to be loaded onto a ship at a port in nanjing. president biden has quadrupled tariffs on electric vehicles from china   from 25% to an eye watering 100%   in a move designed to bolster u.s. jobs and manufacturing. "i'm determined that the future of electric vehicles be made in america by union workers. period," biden said on tuesday. former president donald trump first imposed the tariffs, which are taxes paid by americans who import goods, on vehicles and a wide range of other china made products. after a review, the biden administration opted to keep all of the tariffs and even increase some of them   including on solar cells, batteries, computer chips, steel and aluminum. the white house says "strategic" hikes, paired with massive subsidies previously passed by congress, can help build a u.s. based supply chain for green energy. "until china changes its practices, these tariffs are also meant to give our industries a break, a respite, to be able to breathe," u.s. trade representative katherine tai told npr. here are five things to know about the tariffs on evs. so far, the trump era tariffs have largely kept affordable chinese made vehicles out of the u.s., even as they gain popularity in europe and other markets. the tariff hikes are meant to ensure that doesn't change. chinese electric vehicles from makers like byd aren't just cheap   they're also good. economist sue helper, a former biden official who recently took a byd seagull for a test ride, called the car "impressive" and "cute." and it retails for just $10,000 in china. smaller sizes, innovative designs and efficient business practices help keep the prices of chinese autos down. but exploitative labor practices and enormous government subsidies also play a big role. there's bipartisan concern that if those cars were sold in the u.s. at such cheap prices   "unfairly underpriced," as white house economist lael brainard put it   they would undercut u.s. made vehicles and result in catastrophic job losses at american factories. increasing the price of electric vehicles seems to contradict another biden priority: cutting carbon emissions. a widespread transition from gasoline vehicles to battery powered cars is central to biden's climate goals. but biden wants to cut emissions in a specific way, which is why evs and other clean industries are getting both giant subsidies and protectionist tariffs. he wants a u.s. based green energy supply chain   from raw materials all the way to finished products   with american jobs, preferably union jobs, at every step. the two goals are sometimes in tension. the consumer tax credits for electric vehicles, for example, come with a long list of restrictions designed to nudge auto companies toward u.s. suppliers. that means fewer vehicles qualify than they would otherwise. but as a result, companies have already started shifting supply chains   the other goal. the tariffs are meant to buy u.s. industry more time to make the transition. some climate groups argue that long term, it's better to support   and regulate   u.s. companies as they go green, rather than import chinese clean energy products now. and there's a political case that embracing chinese evs, if it does cost jobs, could trigger a backlash that would reduce support for climate action. not too long ago, both democrats and republicans vocally endorsed free trade, denouncing trade barriers as obstacles to prosperity and government support for specific industries as "picking winners and losers." these days, there's bipartisan support for tariffs. subsidies for certain types of manufacturing are more commonly (and approvingly) called industrial policy. u.s. made evs, in particular, have lots of boosters. the auto industry has embraced biden's subsidies. powerful labor groups see a chance to bring jobs back to the states. climate groups see an opportunity to get automakers to clean up their supply chains, among other changes. and some republican led states see massive investments on the line. and car buyers? even some who would love to buy a cheap chinese evbelieve it's in the best interest of the u.s. to keep them out. not everyone is on board with biden's vision of a world leading made in america ev supply chain, from lithium mine to finished vehicles. the oil industry and trump are vocal critics. but between the coalition supporting u.s. clean manufacturing, and a broad political antagonism toward china, these tariffs have widespread support. as he increased tariffs on evs, semiconductors and other specific technologies, biden left the other tariffs imposed by trump untouched. (that's true even though the white house acknowledged the tariffs had not achieved the stated goals ofincreasing u.s. exports or stopping theft of intellectual property.) in some respects, trump's policy toward china is now biden's policy toward china. but there are differences, as the two presidential candidates themselves point out. trump, speaking to reporters outside of his criminal trial in new york, responded to the tariff hikes on tuesday by saying biden needs to go even further. "they've also got to do it on other vehicles and they have to do it on a lot of other products," trump said. he has floated ideas for across the board tariffs on all imports, regardless of country. biden, meanwhile, describes his approach as "strategic and targeted" and says across the board tariffs would cost american households $1,500 a year. in another difference, biden's tariffs are also paired with those massive subsidies for domestic production of evs, semiconductors and other technologies   subsidies trump has denounced. now, it's china's move. how will it retaliate against these tariffs   or evade them? chinese automakers may choose to escape the tariff by building plants in mexico to make cars bound for the u.s. if that happens, the u.s. might persuade mexico to renegotiate trade agreements, institute a ban on vehicles made by chinese companies, or find another approach to box china out. meanwhile, there might still be paths to bring chinese made evs to the u.s. volvo cars is planning to bring a hotly anticipated small suv to the states this summer; its spinoff polestar sells made in china evs in the u.s. now. in statements, both companies say they are evaluating the impact of the tariff hikes. they may have workarounds to reduce the impact. they also both express support for free trade   and emphasize they are investing in manufacturing in south carolina. the auto industry is global. swedish automakers owned by a chinese company building cars in south carolina is par for the course. and it's one sign of why higher tariffs aren't the final word on chinese evs and the u.s. auto market. china is reshaping the auto industry; the question is how. sponsor message become an npr sponsor

president joe biden is expected to quadruple tariffs on electric vehicles from china from roughly 25% to 100%, and raise other tariffs on key industries including semiconductors, solar, and batteries in an announcement tuesday, according to a source familiar with the decision. the action has implications for the 2024 presidential election, as biden aims to bolster his image as being tougher and smarter on china than former president donald trump. in key swing states, biden has vowed to protect american workers from foreign competition and said last month in pennsylvania that he would significantly raise steel tariffs on china. the decision was made after a yearslong required review of the tariffs that trump imposed on some $300 billion of imports. most of those trump era tariffs will remain in place. by implementing a steep increase on ev tariffs, the biden administration aims to prevent a flood of cars made in china from hitting the u.s. market    a market china has not been a significant player in up to this point. the level of the tariffs on the additional sectors were not clear as of monday. trump has said he would consider imposing tariffs of 60% or more on all chinese imports and mocked biden's plan during his rally in new jersey this weekend. "he says he's going to put a 100% tariff on all chinese electric vehicles. isn't that nice?" trump said. "biden should have done this four years ago." the biden administration claims its approach is more targeted and strategic than trump's approach. president biden has focused on improving domestic manufacturing and increasing green energy investments during his administration. the tariffs point to growing concerns that overproduction of these kinds of goods by china could significantly hurt his agenda   particularly in an election year when both candidates are pledging to be tough on china. but some economists warn that increasing tariffs will inflame tensions with china, increase costs to consumers, and worsen inflation. ian bremmer, the president and founder of eurasia group, a political risk research and consulting firm, said the higher tariffs on evs could complicate biden's climate agenda. bremmer said that "chinese vehicles are far better on the ev side than anyone else out there." "the interesting political point here is that biden is meant to be the pro climate president," bremmer said. "but we don't support reducing emissions when it comes at the expense of american labor. and we don't care if that means it's less competitive and the americans are going to have access to more expensive, low quality electric vehicles. that's the message that they're sending." tesla ceo elon musk said in his company's earnings call earlier this year that chinese car companies are the "most competitive car companies in the world." "frankly, i think if there are not trade barriers established, they will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world," musk added. during her visit to china last month, treasury secretary janet yellen warned about growing investments in "new" industries targeted by the prc's industrial policy," including electric vehicles, lithium ion batteries and solar. "china is now simply too large for the rest of the world to absorb this enormous capacity. actions taken by the prc today can shift world prices. and when the global market is flooded by artificially cheap chinese products, the viability of american and other foreign firms is put into question," yellen said in press conference remarks in china. "we've seen this story before. over a decade ago, massive prc government support led to below cost chinese steel that flooded the global market and decimated industries across the world and in the united states. i've made clear that president biden and i will not accept that reality again," she added.

you can turn to opb for stories about the people and places that make our region unique thanks to member support. join in now! a seagull electric vehicle from chinese automaker byd for test driving is parked outside a showroom in beijing, wednesday, april 10, 2024. the tiny, low priced electric vehicle called the seagull has american automakers and politicians trembling. the car, launched last year by chinese automaker byd, sells for around $12,000 in china. but it drives well and is put together with craftsmanship that rivals u.s. made electric vehicles that cost three times as much. tariffs on imported chinese vehicles probably will keep the seagull away from america’s shores for now. ng han guan/ap / ap president joe biden is expected to finalize significant tariffs on some chinese imports this week. the taxes are a continuation of donald trump's tough on china trade policies. both men have touted these kinds of tariffs as a way to protect american jobs. but do they really? sanjay patnaik, director of the center on regulation and markets at the brookings institution, told morning edition it's a little more complicated because tariffs can actually lead to job losses and higher costs for u.s. consumers. a tariff is basically a tax on imported goods that come from abroad, patnaik said. “so let's say we have a german car that is being manufactured in germany, and as that car enters the u.s., [the importers] have to pay a tax or tariff at the border to the american government,” patnaik said. biden's new tariffs on china range from 100% tariffs on electric vehicles to 50% on solar cells and 25% on aluminum and steel products and respirators and face masks. other hikes will go into effect in 2025 and 2026. patnaik said the impact of tariffs is mixed and depends on the industry. “when we look at the at the record of the trump administration and the biden administration in terms of tariffs, what we have seen so far is that the latest studies show that there is a net loss in jobs, at least of 140,000 to 275,000 jobs across industries and an increase in prices and additional costs that american consumers have to pay,” patnaik said. he added that this could continue with the tariffs that president biden is considering in that the higher cost of these tariffs could be passed on to u.s. consumers. patnaik points to tariffs on steel that trump placed on chinese steel and aluminum during his presidency   which biden kept. the tariffs may have protected a few jobs in the u.s. steel industry, patnaik said, but any company using the products would “have to pay higher prices and oftentimes they have to reduce output or they have to absorb those costs and cannot produce as much and might not be able to hire as many people as they would otherwise.” ohio u.s. sen. and trump vp pick jd vance defended the former president's tariffs in an interview with nbc's meet the press. vance argued they were necessary because china's practices undercut wages of american workers and that they wouldn't raise costs for u.s. consumers. but estimates show that american families paid upwards of a couple hundred dollars annually due to the tariffs, patnaik said. trump's tariffs cost americans about $80 billion, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan tax foundation. patnaik added that if the u.s wants to rein in china economically, it should deepen its economic ties through more trade and free trade agreements with its allies. “we currently do not, for instance, have a free trade agreement with japan. we do not have a free trade agreement with the european union or with the u.k., and i think that would be a very good way to deepen our ties with those allies and make sure that we have common market with our closest friends around the world because this could really provide a counterweight to china,” patnaik said. the u.s. and japan do have a trade agreement focused on minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries that was signed last year but not a comprehensive free trade agreement, according to the office of the u.s. trade representative. tags: economy, politics, business opb’s essential reporting and inspiring programs are made possible by the power of member support. streaming now bbc weekend

improving economic policy suggested keywords: the us approach diverges from that of the eu, which is building a case for countervailing duties under wto rules on 14 may, united states president joe biden announced new tariffs on china under section 301 of the trade act of 1974 (unfair trade) 1 see the white house, ‘fact sheet: president biden takes action to protect american workers and businesses from china’s unfair trade practices’, 14 may 2024,&nbsp;https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing room/statements releases/2024/05/14…. . the additional tariffs   on top of earlier tariffs, including those imposed by president trump   cover imports from china in several sectors, including semiconductors (tariff rises from 25 percent to 50 percent), solar cells (from 25 percent to 50 percent), electric vehicle batteries (from 7.5 percent to 25 percent) and electric vehicles (evs; from 25 percent to 100 percent). most of these products are already subject to high duties or extensive trade remedy measures, so the amount of imports from china covered by the new tariffs, including evs, is small at $18 billion. in fact, the us imports essentially no evs from china. however, it is a sector of great concern to the european union, which in october 2023 opened an anti subsidy investigation into chinese evs, which may trigger countervailing duties 2 see european commission press release of 4 october 2023, ‘commission launches investigation on subsidised electric cars from china’,&nbsp;https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_4752 . the us move may therefore have implications for the pending eu decision on countervailing duties on china. an extraordinary decision, driven by domestic politics the us decision on chinese evs is extraordinary in four respects: the decision on evs and its timing are strictly political and reflect the extraordinary power of the united auto workers union in swing states in the run up to the us presidential election. the decision is nevertheless a surprise in the light of recent efforts at china us rapprochement, including exchanges at senior military level, and talks on ai and climate change. china will be affronted and many china dependent us firms, which had hoped for tariff reductions, will be disappointed. the decision is, however, consistent with us trade representative katherine tai’s “worker centric” trade policy which claims to place workers’ interests ahead of those of firms 5 contrary to research done by autor et al (2024). . global impact the immediate economic impact of the tariffs will be minimal at the macro level, whether on quantities, prices, or exchange rates; $18 billion is tiny relative to the size of the two economies, and even the $500 billion that china exported to the us in 2023. even so, they will hurt some chinese companies and us importers. the effect on us consumers and prices will be minimal and take the form of lost future opportunities rather than immediate cost, especially in relation to evs. china’s retaliation (it always retaliates) will be proportionate and limited. if the past is a guide, retaliation will affect mainly some us agricultural exports, which can be sourced easily elsewhere, and us exporters will be compensated for their losses in china. but even if the chinese government does not retaliate against us car exports and investments in china (which it continues to court), the chinese consumer is unlikely to respond well to america’s extreme measure on evs when he or she chooses the next car to buy. perhaps more worrying is the further escalation of tensions with china that the tariffs represent   a dangerous trend with many repercussions. it may undermine any chinese willingness to play a moderating influence on the war in ukraine. the tariffs also quash any notion that the us intends to abide by world trade organisation rules. these two considerations, by themselves, increase policy uncertainty globally and are bound to have a dampening effect on international trade and investment (al thaqeb and algharabali, 2019). the us approach diverges from that of the eu, which is building a case for countervailing duties under wto rules. although the outcome may also be new tariffs, in the eu there will have been due process based on evidence. but politically, prohibitive us tariffs place enormous pressure on the eu to apply its own. even though there is no immediate threat of trade diversion, eu firms such as stellantis, and unions that lobby for tariffs, will argue that chinese ev exporters, cut off from the us market, will focus on the huge eu market instead. though eu firms are still the largest exporters of evs from china to the eu by a wide margin, the share of chinese indigenous manufacturers is rising rapidly. the adverse effect on trade relations of the new tariffs will extend beyond trade under the wto to encompass trade under regional agreements. this is because us politicians are determined to avoid china sourced products coming in through the back door   strict rules of origin are already there to prevent that   and to prevent the products of chinese invested companies from entering. in their view, even if batteries, evs and semiconductors are manufactured by a chinese invested company in a us trading partner, and are entitled to tariff free treatment under a regional agreement, they should be discouraged. this also applies to chinese companies producing in the us 6 an example is the fight over ford . mexico and morocco are two examples of us regional trade agreement (rta) partners that host chinese manufacturers of batteries and soon of evs, where frictions are bound to rise. even though the eu remains more open to chinese producers on its territory than the us (eg byd in hungary, catl in germany and hungary), it will face a similar challenge with its rta partners if, as expected, it applies its own tariffs on chinese evs. these tensions among parties to rtas, together with china’s retaliation against eu and us ev tariffs, is likely to mark this episode as a classic example of protectionist contagion. a separation of chinese and us value chains? the ev value chain is destined to increase greatly in importance to mitigate climate change. from the standpoint of us industrial policy, a big question raised by the prohibitive tariffs on chinese evs and by the accompanying resistance against hosting chinese producers is whether a us ev/battery value chain entirely separate from china is sustainable and realistic. the us is undoubtedly capable of developing such a chain, but can it do so at reasonable cost and without falling behind in quality and efficiency? on the answer to this question rests the calculation of long term consumer losses from the tariffs against the counterfactual, the speed of the us green transition, the burden on government finance from the possibility of more subsidies, and even the solvency of us car companies. even a cursory examination of china’s current competitive advantage in evs suggests that the answer to the question is no. china produces almost twice as many evs as the eu and us combined, the share of evs in new car registrations is rising rapidly, and it has reportedly moved ahead at the combined quality/price/technology frontier 7 kevin williams, ‘i went to china and drove a dozen electric cars. western automakers are cooked’, insideevs, 9 may 2024,&nbsp;https://insideevs.com/features/719015/china is ahead of west/. . the latest byd model, the seagull, sells in china at slightly less than $10,000, and has been highlighted as an illustration of china’s competitiveness 8 [8]&nbsp;brett foote, ‘ford ceo farley says byd seagull bigger threat than mandates’, ford authority, 13 march 2024,&nbsp;https://fordauthority.com/2024/03/ford ceo farley says byd seagull bigg…. . tesla founder elon musk has been openly pessimistic about the west’s ability to compete with chinese cars 9 adhirup roy, ‘tesla ceo musk: chinese ev firms will . china’s cost advantage arises from a combination of scale, advanced and lower cost battery technology, availability of it and ai expertise, lower labour costs, and intense competition in the chinese market, with dozens of domestic and foreign producers active. central and provincial government subsidies still play a role, and their extent is what the eu investigation will evaluate. the only available and presumably reliable numbers on subsidies received are those declared by chinese publicly traded companies such as byd, and are small relative to turnover or value added 10 kenji kawase, ‘china gives ev sector billions of yuan in subsidies’, nikkei asia, 21 september 2023,&nbsp;https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/electric cars in china/china gives ev…. . china’s ev exports increased by over 60 percent in 2023 to reach 1.2 million units, directed mainly at europe, mexico and several emerging markets in asia. since the biggest chinese ev manufacturers and their battery suppliers have developed distinctive assets (brand, technology and design), they are new able to set up manufacturing and distribution channels overseas, in markets including thailand, indonesia, australia, morocco, mexico and hungary. chinese ev manufacturers are also rapidly gaining market share in china, where competitors are increasingly struggling. as evs become even more established worldwide, the scale advantage of the most successful chinese producers over us based producers will only increase, as will their capacity to target individual markets with customized products on a common platform. finally, it is important to note that the largest us car companies, ford and general motors, are not in the best shape to compete in the intensifying ev market. standard and poor’s rates ford’s and gm’s long term debt at bb+ and bbb respectively, just below and just above investment grade. the market capitalisations of byd and xiaomi, the two largest chinese ev producers, are $86 billion and $62 billion respectively, while those of gm and ford are both around $50 billion. the eu’s strategy should the eu adjust its policies in the light of the new biden tariffs, and if so, how? note that since there will be no surge of chinese evs diverted from the us market, it is not a given that the eu needs to alter its course. the eu’s trade strategy on evs must pursue six main objectives: 1) a fair deal for eu manufacturers insofar as they are affected by china’s subsidies in excess of subsidies they receive at home, and one that is in line with wto rules; 2) stand up for the interests of eu car exporters and manufacturers in china, which are also recipients of various subsidies; 3) the long run health and competitiveness of the eu car industry; 4) protect the interests of consumers, especially those with low incomes, who would benefit greatly from cheaper cars; 5) ensure the speed of the green transition; 6) maintain a cooperative and constructive relationship with china for both economic and geopolitical reasons. to progress towards all six objectives simultaneously is a challenge, but can be done: al thaqeb, s.a. and b.g. algharabali (2019) ‘economic policy uncertainty: a literature review’, the journal of economic asymmetries 20, available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1703494919300726 autor, d., a. beck, d. dorn and g.h. hanson (2024) ‘help for the heartland? the employment and electoral effects of the trump tariffs in the united states’, working paper 32082, national bureau of economic research, available at https://www.nber.org/papers/w32082 transport & environment (2024) ‘to raise or not to raise: how europe can use tariffs as part of an industrial strategy’, briefing, available at https://te cdn.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/files/2024_03_te_ev_tariffs_paper.pdf uri dadush is a non resident fellow at bruegel, based in washington dc, and a research professor at the school of public policy at the university of maryland where he teaches courses on trade policy and on macroeconomic analysis and policy. he is also a non resident fellow at the policy center for the new south in rabat, morocco and principal of economic policy international llc, providing consulting services to international organizations. uri dadush’s new book is geopolitics, trade blocks, and the fragmentation of world commerce, lexington books, https://rowman.com/isbn/9781666929379/geopolitics trade blocks and the fragmentation of world commerce uri was a co chair of the trade, investment and globalization task force of the t20 and vice chair of the global agenda council on trade and investment at the world economic forum. he was previously director of the international economics program at the carnegie endowment for international peace. prior to that he was director of international trade, director of economic policy, and director of the development prospects group at the world bank. based previously in london, brussels and milan, he spent 15 years in the private sector, where he was president of the economist intelligence unit, group vice president of data resources inc., and a consultant with mckinsey and co. his books include: trade preferences, foreign aid and self interest; trade policy in morocco: taking stock and looking forward (with pierre sauve' , co editor); wto accessions and trade multilateralism (with chiedu osakwe, co editor); juggernaut: how emerging markets are transforming globalization (with william shaw); inequality in america (with kemal dervis and others); currency wars (with vera eidelman, co editor); and paradigm lost: the euro in crisis. his new book, 'geopolitics, trade blocks and the fragmentation of world commerce' will be published by lexington books in september 2024. his columns have appeared in the financial times, the wall street journal, foreign affairs, foreign policy, il sole 24 ore, le monde, liberation, l’espresso and el pais. he has a ba and ma in economics from hebrew university of jerusalem and a phd in business economics from harvard university. an eu duty on electric cars from china overstates the problem and will do more harm than good trends in china suggest it is not the threat many in the us believe, creating scope for defusing trade tensions the new trump administration might take a sequenced approach to tariffs, confronting the eu with difficult decisions © bruegel. all rights reserved. design and development by soapbox.

trump administration supported by the president wants to shift america’s car fleet toward electric vehicles, but not at the expense of american jobs or national security. by jim tankersley reporting from washington president biden wants more of america’s cars and trucks to run on electricity, not gas. his administration has pushed that goal on multiple fronts, including strict new regulations of auto emissions and lavish new subsidies to help american consumers take as much as $7,500 off the cost of a new electric vehicle. mr. biden’s aides agree that electric vehicles   which retail for more than $53,000 on average in the united states   would sell even faster here if they were less expensive. as it happens, there is a wave of new electric vehicles that are significantly cheaper than the ones customers can currently buy in the united states. they are proving extremely popular in europe. but the president and his team do not want americans to buy these cheap cars, which retail elsewhere for as little as $10,000, because they are made in china. that’s true even though a surge of low cost imported electric vehicles might help drive down car prices overall, potentially helping mr. biden in his re election campaign at a time when inflation remains voters’ top economic concern. instead, the president is taking steps to make chinese electric vehicles prohibitively expensive, in large part to protect american automakers. mr. biden signed an executive action earlier this month that quadruples tariffs on those cars to 100 percent. those tariffs will put many potential chinese imports at a significant cost disadvantage to electric vehicles made in america. but some models, like the discount byd seagull, could still cost less than some american rivals even after tariffs, which is one reason senator sherrod brown of ohio and some other democrats have called on mr. biden to ban chinese e.v. imports entirely. the apparent clash between climate concerns and american manufacturing has upset some environmentalists and liberal economists, who say the country and the world would be better off if mr. biden welcomed the importation of low cost, low emission technologies to fight climate change.

when news breaks, you need to understand what matters   and what to do about it. at vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. but we can’t do it on our own. we rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. will you support our work and become a vox member today? biden is acting like he hates the chinese more than he likes the climate. by dylan matthews you can’t buy the seagull in the us. but i bet you wish you could. a small hatchback around the size of a mini cooper, the seagull is a fast charging electric car and claims a range of up to 250 miles (at least according to its home country’s generous tests); byd, its chinese manufacturer, claims it can go from 30 percent to 80 percent charged in a half hour using a dc plug. it’s hardly a luxury car but it’s well equipped, with a power driver’s seat and cruise control. “if i were looking for an inexpensive commuter car … this would be perfect,” veteran car journalist john mcelroy said after taking a drive. the best part? its base model costs about $10,700 in china. that’s about a third of the cost of the cheapest ev you can buy in the us. in south america, it’s a little pricier, but still fairly affordable, at under $24,000 for a top trim version. even in europe, you can get an entry level byd for under €30,000. these are absolutely screaming deals   exactly the kind of products that could turbocharge our transition away from gas and toward electric vehicles. and it’s just one of many byd electric cars on offer, from the compact e2/e3 hatchback and sedan (think a honda civic or toyota corolla) to the full size, luxe han ev, a more expensive option nonetheless selling for under $33,000 in china (it costs more than double that in europe). many of the options have an aquatic themed name: the seal, the dolphin, the sea lion. the problem for americans? the biden administration is hell bent on preventing you from buying byd’s product, and if donald trump returns to office, he is likely to fight it as well. that’s because the byd cars are made in china, and both biden and trump are committed to an ultranationalist trade policy meant to keep byd’s products out. they’ve seen what’s happened in other global markets that chinese ev companies have entered. shipments to europe have increased astronomically; chinese companies sold 0.5 percent of evs in europe in 2019 but they’re already over 9 percent as of last year. companies like byd make cheap, reasonably good quality cars people are eager to buy. in 2018, trump imposed, and biden has since continued, a special 25 percent tax on chinese made autos, on top of the ordinary 2.5 percent tax on foreign made cars. in may, biden announced he will quadruple the tariff rate on chinese evs, from 25 percent to 100 percent. anyone importing chinese evs will have to pay double. this hostility from the executive branch has so far prevented byd and its chinese peers from trying to enter the us market. us customer tastes are different enough that chinese manufacturers would probably prefer to make cars tailored to them   but us policy has been so hostile toward cheap chinese evs that so far, the companies haven’t wanted to bother. so, the result is that we’re left out of the bounty of cheap ev options created by byd and others. “if you’re a consumer right now, the best place to be right now is china, because you have the best choice of evs,” ilaria mazzocco, senior fellow at the center for strategic and international studies and an expert on chinese evs, says. china’s price advantage is big enough that even the 25 percent trump biden import tax might not have been enough to deter companies like byd from entering the us market. hence the 100 percent tax. and that might not be the end of it. commerce secretary gina raimondo has described chinese made cars as a national security threat, and recently announced an investigation into the vehicles’ data collection abilities and the possibility they could send movement data to beijing. on the one hand, biden is offering americans up to $7,500 per vehicle to buy evs (provided they meet certain made in north america rules). on the other hand, he’s imposing massive taxes to keep americans from buying evs. it’s a bizarre policy that makes no sense from a climate perspective. that’s what makes it so fascinating. the chinese ev case is a good demonstration that however motivated the biden administration might be by climate concerns, it is much more motivated by a desire to help american automakers, to win michigan’s electoral votes this november, and to escalate a brewing cold war against china. it has proven shockingly willing to sabotage its own climate policy if it gets to stick it to the chinese in the process. “there’s almost an across the board apprehension about chinese evs, even though they would make an important contribution to [lower] co2 emissions,” gary clyde hufbauer, a veteran trade expert at the peterson institute for international economics, says. the basic environmental argument for electric cars is simple: burning petroleum in internal combustion engines produces co2 emissions. both because some electricity is generated through clean sources like wind, solar, and nuclear, and because electric motors are vastly more efficient than petroleum engines, electric cars emit less per mile traveled. evs are slightly more carbon intensive to manufacture in the first place, but most estimates suggest the lower per mile emissions of evs quickly make up for the extra emissions involved in their creation. one recent study calculated the “breakeven” point at a little under 17,000 miles driven; another study put the number at 21,300 miles. given that the average american drives 13,500 miles a year, evs should break even within a couple years of use. but is this still true for chinese evs? china still gets more than 60 percent of its electricity from coal, compared to less than 20 percent in the us. the us instead relies more on gas and renewables, leading to a cleaner grid overall. that means producing evs and ev batteries in china should, on average, produce more carbon emissions than making them in the us or europe. so, does this mean that byd’s cheap evs are bad for the environment, or at least no better for it than typical gas vehicles? hardly. “it’s just sort of a ruse,” anand gopal, a clean energy and transportation expert and executive director of policy research at the firm energy innovation, says. “close to 90 percent of the emissions of a fossil fuel vehicle [are] from the combustion of the fuel. even if you have slight variations in the manufacturing emissions based on the region, an ev is just going to be massively better.” john helveston, a professor of engineering at george washington university who studies the development of electric vehicles, notes that the complex supply chain of even us made electric cars makes the difference in carbon output of cars produced in different countries pretty minimal. “the biggest factor for china is that they control all the upstream material supply chain” for lithium batteries, helveston says. even if your ev’s battery is built by, say, panasonic in a plant in the us, “the raw materials for that are being processed and refined in china first. it’s the same starting point everywhere.” where exactly in china the evs are built also matters a lot. “we think of china as a really polluting country but it’s also a very big country,” mazzocco explains. “the energy mix really depends on where you are.” in western china, for instance, hydropower is very prominent, and aluminum manufacturers have taken advantage. just because an ev is made in china doesn’t mean it’s made with coal power. evs of whatever origin are getting cleaner over time as the electrical grid gets cleaner. this is happening more slowly in china   but even there, electricity is getting cleaner. more and more of the energy running your ev will be coming from solar, wind, and other renewables, and less and less will come from coal or natural gas. that means ev adoption will do even more for the environment as the years go on. if chinese and american evs are roughly similar in their environmental impact, they are not roughly similar in price. realistically, helveston argues, byd might not sell something like the seagull in the us because it’s smaller than most cars americans buy. they’d probably build plants in the us instead, or its free trade zone partners canada and mexico, to build vehicles tailored for americans. “if you’re going to really enter a market, you have to make it locally,” helveston explains. “us automakers like gm sell and make millions of cars in china to sell in china.” byd would do the same. indeed, it’s already reportedly scouting sites for factories in mexico. if they ever were to set up shop in north america, byd and other chinese car companies would still have a major price advantage versus american evs. they have years more experience and a much more successful track record of building batteries and evs at low cost. “part of why they’re so successful is they’ve been thinking outside the box on cost reduction for a long time,” mazzocco says. they took the “opposite of the tesla approach”: starting not with luxury vehicles but ultra cheap cars fit for taxi fleets and not much else, and constantly improving their early inexpensive prototypes. the result is that chinese firms have gotten extremely good at making inexpensive evs, at a time when ford, by contrast, lost $28,000 for every ev it sold in 2023. short of outright selling cars made by chinese companies, you could imagine partnerships between experienced battery manufacturers like byd and american ev makers. “i’d love to see gm and ford make an affordable ev that has a chinese battery,” helveston says. “i’d rather have that than gm and ford sell cars for $10,000 more than they need to.” “if you have more affordable evs in the united states, no matter where you come from,” gopal says, “that’s better for the climate.” still, the biden administration reportedly wants to restrict chinese car companies’ access to the us even if they do set up shop in north america. bloomberg reported earlier this month that the biden administration is formulating rules that would limit us sales of chinese made parts, even if they’re in vehicles ultimately assembled in the us or mexico. you could make a reasonable case that the tariff against chinese cars is not itself the main factor holding back chinese evs from the us, because americans will want bigger and more luxurious cars than companies like byd now make. but blocking chinese companies from building us targeted cars in mexico would prevent them from doing that kind of targeting, and cut americans off from cheap evs in a lasting way. why isn’t the biden administration salivating at the thought of byd electric cars flooding the market? they’re making green vehicles ultra affordable and doing so at the cost of china’s taxpayers   not america’s. isn’t that what we want? the pushback isn’t about climate at all. it’s political. over 166,000 people work in car or car part manufacturing in the state of michigan, per the most recent data we have; that’s more than the margin by which biden won the state in 2020. michigan also has a competitive senate race in 2024, as does ohio, another car manufacturing hub. if allowing entry to chinese cars alienates the us auto sector, the political consequences for biden could be catastrophic. using taxes on imports to win elections is a long, proud presidential tradition. george w. bush slapped tariffs on steel in 2002, in what was widely viewed as a bid for votes in pennsylvania, ohio, and west virginia. to this very day, foreign built pickup trucks and heavy trucks are unavailable in the us because of a 25 percent tariff lyndon b. johnson imposed in 1963, in retaliation for german and french tariffs on us chicken exports. the “chicken tax” has meant that even foreign companies like toyota and honda build trucks intended for the us market in the us. compared to the chicken tax, the biden administration’s approach feels positively logical. but the biden administration’s objections to chinese evs are also ideological. the biden administration represents the victory of a protectionist, trade skeptical wing of the democratic party that was relegated to the sidelines during the clinton and obama years. as frank foer detailed in his book the last politician, this faction was brought into the biden coalition partly through his now national security adviser jake sullivan. during the trump years, sullivan forged an alliance with the trade skeptics and “broke bread with elizabeth warren disciples, labor union officials, and intellectuals from left leaning think tanks.” sullivan is also, notably, a major china hawk   foer describes him as agreeing with donald trump that china is “eating our lunch”   leading to a hostility to trade with the country that meshed easily with that of trade skeptics who have for decades opposed exposing us manufacturing workers to foreign competition. sullivan has described this policy as a “foreign policy for the middle class.” while it’s possible to defend tariffs against chinese cars in these terms, and united auto workers certainly support higher tariffs, the idea that this policy helps the american middle class overall is laughable. less than one percent of americans work in auto or auto parts manufacturing. but over 90 percent of american households have a car, and surging car prices were a huge contributor to the 2021 2023 rise in inflation. barriers to importing cheap cars make inflation worse and reduce the real incomes of the middle class. not only are the administration and other left leaning institutions opposed to chinese evs, but hardline conservatives at places like the heritage foundation are calling for outright bans on chinese evs as well. their rationale is security, another theme the biden administration evokes often. on thursday, the commerce department announced it was beginning a process to “investigate the national security risks of … prc manufactured technology in [internet connected] vehicles.” helveston was skeptical of the idea that data collected by chinese made vehicles amounts to much in a world where americans freely tell tiktok all of their interests and desires. “of all the things a chinese firm could do to collect data on you, your vehicles are probably my least concern,” he says. “they have a lot of other avenues to learn about you through social media and other techniques.” “i think it’s good that they’re doing an investigation,” mazzocco adds, but the dangers are “not just china.” besides, the us could always craft more tailored rules regarding data collection in vehicles that could prevent the data from getting back to byd headquarters in shenzhen that fall far short of a draconian ban on even mexico made byd cars, or short of the current 25 percent tariff. banning an entire car company because of data worries is, to quote frank zappa, a bit like treating dandruff with decapitation. there are a number of powerful forces pushing the biden administration to crack down on chinese made evs. they want votes in michigan. they want to build a us based supply chain for evs, and are rightly worried that more experienced chinese manufacturers are going to clean us manufacturers’ clock. their policies seem to suggest they care more about cultivating the auto workers union than about ensuring cars are inexpensive. but given the clear climate advantage of evs over gasoline cars, and the clear advantages china has in making affordable evs compared to american companies, it’s worth rethinking that set of priorities. the us unemployment is 3.7 percent, which is about as low as it’s been since the early 1950s. we are not in a position where we desperately need to create new jobs. we are in a situation where we desperately need to transition away from fossil fuels. it’s an ideal situation, in other words, for cheap foreign made electric cars. update, may 14, 10:10 am et: this story was originally published on march 4 and has been updated to include the biden administration’s 100 percent tariff on chinese made electric vehicles. you’ve read 1 article in the last month here at vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you   threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country. our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. by becoming a vox member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change. we rely on readers like you   join us. swati sharma vox editor in chief we accept credit card, apple pay, and google pay. you can also contribute via understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day. a policy wish list, according to water, engineering, and legislative experts. lithium ion battery technology is imperfect, but it’s not going anywhere. california’s last resort for fire insurance may fail. we should all pay attention to what happens next. something strange is happening inside the environmental movement. a baby bust threatens the future of an already struggling reef. climate change is, unfortunately, giving rats a boost, a new study found. © 2025 vox media, llc. all rights reserved

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"western automakers, western suppliers really ought to be upping their game and preparing to take this on or play with them. it's one or the other." the ev tariffs, including other increases regarding battery materials, were among new tariff rates on $18 billion worth of chinese imports. for decades, chinese auto companies have said they will begin selling vehicles in the u.s. under their own brands, but none have succeeded. the quality of chinese automakers' vehicles has gotten significantly better in recent years, as beijing has helped by subsidizing their operations to grow domestic production. the increase in domestic automakers has led to a rapid deterioration of market share in the country for global automakers such as general motors. global players have made more inroads in the u.s. market in recent years. the so called big three u.s. automakers   gm, ford motor and chrysler, now owned by stellantis   have watched their market share in the country deteriorate from 75% in 1984 to about 40% in 2023, according to industry data. gm and others have found it hard to compete against budget and mainstream chinese vehicles, including evs. for example, a small ev from warren buffett backed byd called the seagull starts at around $10,000 and reportedly banks a profit for the increasingly influential chinese automaker. though the seagull isn't yet sold on u.s. soil, byd is expanding its vehicles globally, and some believe it's only a matter of time before more china made vehicles arrive in the u.s. even with the new 100% tariff, its pricing would likely be in line with or better than many evs currently on sale in the u.s. "ultimately, we think protectionism from the west could remain a near term overhang for chinese ev/parts makers aiming for rapid global expansion, but we think it is unlikely to halt china's ev push in the long run," morgan stanley analyst tim hsiao said in an investor note this week. though some automakers currently import gas powered vehicles from china into the u.s., the numbers are small. wall street analysts, citing the china association of automobile manufacturers, report fewer than 75,000 vehicles were imported into the u.s. last year. vehicles made in china and currently sold in the u.s. include gm's gas powered buick envision, ford's lincoln nautilus and two all electric vehicles from geely owned volvo and its spinoff ev startup polestar. polestar, with a small lineup of vehicles, is notably reliant on its chinese imports. the company, in a statement, said it is "currently evaluating the announcement of tariff increases from the biden administration," saying it believes "free trade is essential to speed up the transition to more sustainable mobility through increased ev adoption." biden's focus on china made evs   and the exclusion of gas powered vehicles in the higher levies   fits with the white house's clean energy agenda, which has emphasized electric vehicle production and adoption as well as enhanced u.s. charging infrastructure. "evs are where we're focused in terms of placing tariffs, because that's where we've made hundreds of billions of dollars of public investments. we've made those investments to build resilience in our clean technology supply chains. and so that's our focus here," a senior administration official told reporters this week. it's possible u.s. officials are taking a warning sign from europe, where chinese automakers have quickly flooded markets with gas saving evs and undercut domestic automakers. chinese companies accounted for 8% of europe's all electric vehicle sales as of september and could increase their share to 15% by 2025, the european union said in october 2023. the eu believes chinese evs are undercutting the prices of local models by about 20%. the biden administration's new ev tariffs could have a ripple effect on other countries, including in europe, if they're successful in stemming chinese exports, according to coco zhang, vice president of esg research at ing group. she said similar tariffs elsewhere could force chinese companies to move more quickly to establish local production operations or joint ventures with other companies in an attempt to lower export costs. "from china's perspective, if there can be supply or other sorts of partnerships, they can still find their way going into the u.s. market," zhang said. such moves would be reminiscent of how japanese automakers such as toyota motor and nissan motor as well as south korea's hyundai motor, including kia motors, entered the u.s. market in recent decades.   cnbc's rebecca picciotto and michael bloom contributed to this report. got a confidential news tip? we want to hear from you. sign up for free newsletters and get more cnbc delivered to your inbox get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. © 2025 cnbc llc. all rights reserved. a division of nbcuniversal data is a real time snapshot *data is delayed at least 15 minutes. global business and financial news, stock quotes, and market data and analysis. data also provided by
trump tariffs supported by automakers in the united states and their supporters welcomed president biden’s tariffs, saying they would protect domestic manufacturing and jobs from cheap chinese vehicles. by neal e. boudette the biden administration’s new tariffs on chinese electric vehicles won’t have a huge immediate impact on american consumers or the car market because very few such cars are sold in the united states. but the decision reflects deep concern within the american automotive industry, which has grown increasingly worried about china’s ability to churn out cheap electric vehicles. american automakers welcomed the decision by the biden administration on tuesday to impose a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles from china, saying those vehicles would undercut billions of dollars of investment in electric vehicle and battery factories in the united states. “today’s announcement is a necessary response to combat the chinese government’s unfair trade practices that endanger the future of our auto industry,” senator gary peters, a michigan democrat, said in a statement. “it will help level the playing field, keep our auto industry competitive and support good paying, union jobs here at home.” on tuesday, president biden announced a series of new and increased tariffs on certain chinese made goods, including a 25 percent duty on steel and aluminum and 50 percent levies on semiconductors and solar panels. the tariff on electric vehicles made in china was quadrupled from 25 percent. chinese lithium ion batteries for electric cars will now face a 25 percent tariff, up from 7.5 percent. the united states imports only a few makes   electric or gasoline   from china. one is the polestar 2, an electric vehicle made in china by a swedish automaker in which the chinese company zhejiang geely has a controlling stake. in a statement, polestar said it was evaluating the impact of mr. biden’s announcement. “we believe that free trade is essential to speed up the transition to more sustainable mobility through increased e.v. adoption,” the company said.

 washington   auto industry experts warn that new biden administration tariffs aren't a silver bullet against chinese competition. president joe biden announced the tariffs tuesday, targeting $18 billion worth of chinese goods including electric vehicles, lithium ion batteries and their components, steel, semiconductors and more. "we're not gonna let china flood our market making it impossible for american auto manufacturers to compete fairly," the president said during a rose garden address at the white house. the move is part of a continued push from biden to protect the u.s. auto industry from what many view as an existential threat from emerging chinese companies with high quality, low price electric vehicles. the new tariffs might buy the united states time to catch up, according to experts. but they also warn that domestic and foreign competition from china is inevitable, and american automakers should not use this moment to relax. "this is only delaying a pain if they don't get serious about making changes," said mark wakefield, global co leader of the automotive and industrial practice at alixpartners.