Biden announces 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles | Hacker News Reader

Biden announces 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles

theguardian.com

12 pointsHeidaradar10 comments

Compared to my parents, we're paying double for new vehicles (inf adj).

https://www.thedrive.com/news/34333/heres-how-much-the-ford-...

This household lives in a 4-income economy. At modern price-points: Our used vehicles would be worn to the rims before we could save for and purchase a new vehicle outright.

It's so difficult to create a free, and fair market spanning multiple governability zones. While this tariff may be the correct move at this point in time, it's also all too easy to put the thumb on the scale to help your own domestic market. Even so, this appears to be even keel stewardship.

US car manufacturers other than Tesla have not been very successful at producing EVs despite subsidies. It'll be interesting to see how this affects future policy making. Will there be subsidies to protect legacy US automakers? Does that mean gas cars are here to stay?

So the components are all imported from China, then assembled in Mexico. Maybe that's an improvement, and it keeps Chinese brands from establishing themselves, but does it really matter?

It doesn't keep Chinese brands from establishing themselves. As you noted, they'll build in Mexico and the US (See Volvo South Carolina, a Geely company, from China.) The brands will arrive in the US one way or another over the next 5 to 10 years and it will probably mean the end for non-trucks from domestic makers.

Well, Volvo had a presence in the US long before it became a Chinese subsidiary.

Of course some Chinese companies might try to penetrate the US market by manufacturing in North America, and that's already what a lot of foreign (but not Chinese) car companies do. Mazda, Toyota, BMW, etc all have factories in North America.

> levies will rise from 7.5% to 25% on lithium batteries, from zero to 25% on critical minerals, from 25% to 50% on solar cells, and from 25% to 50% on semiconductors.

> Tariffs on steel, aluminium and personal protective equipment – which range from zero to 7.5% – will rise to 25%.

Its ridiculous for western governments to make the argument China subsidizes EVs, hence tariffs. BYD's exports sell for twice the China price[1]. Legacy US/European car manufacturers are simply uncompetitive, living on govt protection, welfare and bailouts. Ford loses 100K on every EV[2], BYD makes cars dirt cheap and is profitable in China, insanely profitable when it exports. China lets car companies compete and evolve, with the understanding that a lot will fail, but the best ones survive.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/why-by..., [1] Paywalled: https://archive.is/xrvWI

[2] https://insideevs.com/news/719453/ford-ev-losses-q1-2024-bat...

> Ford loses 100K on every EV...

...when it includes all the startup expenses needed for a new type of vehicle

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-05-11/us-car...

BYD has received USD3.7B from the CCCP total. Tesla's received twice that in US and California subsidies for its factories and cars.

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