Who is afraid of Chinese electric cars? President Joe Biden.
The president is preparing to announce higher tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles, effectively eliminating the possibility that the country will be able to import cheaper and in many cases more desirable plug-in vehicles into the United States.
according to wall street journal, The Biden administration will announce plans to roughly quadruple tariffs from the current 25% to 100% and impose an additional 2.5% tariff.
Who is afraid of Chinese electric cars?Joe Biden
So far, current tariffs have effectively blocked Chinese companies from importing electric vehicles into the United States. But officials are reportedly nervous about the Chinese government’s willingness to subsidize auto manufacturing. China is the world’s largest exporter of cars, although almost none of them end up in the United States.
China’s auto industry is the world’s largest, and about 30% of the country’s car sales are electric vehicles. Most of the world’s electric vehicle batteries are made in China, and many of the country’s most popular models are praised for their design, features and price.
But U.S. automakers have long worried that an influx of Chinese electric vehicles could bankrupt them. Earlier this year, Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, which sells most of its cars in China, warned that Chinese manufacturers would “destroy” domestic competitors without trade barriers. The concern is that Chinese electric cars are so cheap — BYD’s Seagull sells for about $10,000 — that domestic automakers can’t compete. Other politicians have called for an outright ban on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
Fear of Chinese-made electric vehicles has guided much of the Biden administration’s consumer and manufacturing policies over the past three years. For example, the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit is intended to encourage automakers to purchase batteries from the United States or its trading partners. Vehicles, batteries and other parts from “foreign entities of concern” including China are not eligible for the credit. Earlier this year, the government launched an investigation into potential safety risks posed by smart car technology produced in China.
Despite those policies, Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, have criticized Biden’s electric vehicle policies as setting the stage for acquisitions by Chinese companies. In fact, Biden has retained many of the trade restrictions Trump imposed on China and introduced some new restrictions of his own.
The new tariffs are also expected to apply to other clean energy products, such as solar panels and critical minerals, Magazine Report. There have been previous reports that China is preparing to launch cheaper products into the global market amid a weak domestic economy.
Of course, the lack of affordable electric vehicles in the U.S. is part of the reason for the slowdown. That could jeopardize Biden’s efforts to reduce transportation carbon emissions.
