The Biden administration plans to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles imports from 25 per cent to 100 per cent, as it intensifies efforts ahead of the US election to protect American industry.
The administration is expected to announce the move, and other tariffs on clean energy imports, on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the situation. The sharp rise in the levies comes amid mounting concern that China could flood the US market with cheap EVs, threatening the American car industry.
President Joe Biden has taken several actions in recent months to convince union members in swing states that he will protect jobs. The Biden administration has for three years been reviewing the tariffs that then president Donald Trump put on imports from China as part of the trade war he launched in 2018. The new EV tariffs will be announced alongside the conclusion of the review, led by the US Trade Representative.
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of
But the decision to increase tariffs on EVs comes as the administration becomes particularly concerned that China is moving far ahead in the green industrial sector, including in the production of solar panels.
“The Biden administration is trying to get ahead of the curve and ensure that the US car industry does not suffer the same fate as the US solar industry, which was virtually decimated by unfairly traded Chinese imports,” said Wendy Cutler, a former trade official and vice-president of the Asia Society Policy Institute.
@SolemnThirdPartyForward3wks3W
If capital markets & companies in China operated freely, most of these manufacturers would be bankrupt. If IP protection & court of law existed in China, most of these companies would be sued.
You do know Tesla has received 3 billion dollars in subsidies to date from the US govt right? So this argument around bankruptcy of new technology disruptors can be applied anywhere - it’s is inherently very risky business to enter a new and untested space. I’ve also seen top of the range Chinese EVs and the technology in them is incredible - ahead of anything else I’ve seen on the western market (I’d still rather drive a taycan though). It’s a tad ignorant to say they would be sued for IP infringement as if they don’t have very smart and talented engineers over there also developing things.
@ParliamentTacosForward3wks3W
Receiving subsidies or tax cuts for investment into new manufacturing is nothing new. However receiving subsidies for cutting prices below cost in order to drive competition out of the market is against WTO rules & most Chinese manufacturers are violating this rule with the support of the their government.
I hope you do realize whom they subsidized for over 40 years in the end: the Western consumer. I hope you also realize what the competition is mainly about: outright commodities like steel, commodity products like consumer goods, solar panels or cheap entry EVs. Strategic items have never been shared with China to start with and eg chips people talk about are those from your washing machine. Ask Nvidia whether they share their top chip tech with China. No need for Biden to tell them. But let's build barriers and increase the cost of the consumption basket to stoke inflation and reduce… Read more
@DolphinChuckVeteran3wks3W
Based on ignorance, fear and misinformation - the cause of most irrational hatred. Obviously there are issues deserving of criticism on both sides and fundamental ideological differences but brainless chants of “USA, USA, USA” to manipulative (and contradictory - given Biden’s IRA) policies such as this largely fall in the former bucket.
Let’s be honest, it’s not a good look. When a super power starts to genuinely fear that it’s people are more interested in the imported product vs its own and imposes such severe protective tariffs because it struggles to compete, it hints of insecurity (not national security). It’s a similar path Britain was on as it started to realise it was slowly being overtaken. As history shows us, Britains tariffs at the time did not stop that trajectory.
@CautiousSnipeDemocrat3wks3W
And I don’t understand this hatred - yes Chinese have a different system but so what, why can’t people respect that It’s like they think the west is pure relatively which it isn’t (speaking as someone who prefers the west anyway - but I dont hate on Chinese for it)
The Chinese have a “different system”? Yeah. It’s different alright. It’s a totalitarian police surveillance state that silences - through disappearances, secret and not so secret incarcerations and brute force - any dissenting voices. It rounds up and puts in concentration camps its own citizens. It exercises total and absolute control, down to the minutest detail, over its citizens’ lives. It makes 1984 look like a children’s fairy tale. So what, you ask? Why can’t people respect that, you ask? Who are you? Xi Jinping?
Completely agree. Unfortunately many people not seeing through this as they are blinded by hatred of China. That doesn’t need to be mutually exclusive with criticising the US for contradictory policy decisions.
