Biden announces 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles

White House levy to protect US makers from cheap imports likely to inflame trade tensions

The US president, Joe Biden, has announced a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles as part of a package of measures designed to protect US manufacturers from cheap imports.

In a move that is likely to inflame trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies, the White House said it was imposing more stringent curbs on Chinese goods worth $18bn.

Sources said the move followed a four-year review and was a preventive measure designed to stop cheap subsidised Chinese goods flooding the US market and stifling the growth of the American green technology sector.

…

Despite the risks of retaliation from Beijing, Biden said the increased levies were a proportionate response to China’s overcapacity in the EV sector. Sources said China was producing 30m EVs a year but could sell only 22-23m domestically.

fritobugger2017,

When China opens up it’s domestic market to international goods then the rest of the world should consider doing the same. Until then, match every barrier to entry.

SmilingSolaris,

Why?

fritobugger2017,

Why should China be allowed to put in place barriers to entry but not the rest of the world?

SmilingSolaris,

So china is authoritarian and restricts their people’s market choices and the solution we are going with is just matching that? Pretty sus

fritobugger2017,

Fair trade or no trade. The only way little kids learn to play fair is if the other kids stop playing with them when they cheat.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Fair trade or no trade.

Did the US ever have fair trade to begin with? It seems like we’ve got a long history of undercutting, outsourcing, and drop shipping.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

If China can sell us cheap, efficient electric cars but we can’t sell them expensive gas-guzzling ICE vehicles, it creates an unfair competitive advantage for a Chinese fleet.

Weslee,

On the other hand, the cheap Chinese cars are the result of a long chain of slavery and exploitation

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Go on…

TheDeepState,

Why does Biden hate the Earth?

Etterra,

Lol he’s beating Trump to it. It won’t help him at all, but it is funny because it will piss the orange asshole off.

darkpanda,

I predict Trump will make a day-one promise to remove this tariff calling it terrible, just terrible.

Sentau,

Entirely possible

Huckledebuck,

So Trump can be controlled with reverse psychology, like a 2 year old. Definitely possible.

crispyflagstones,

They excerpted Trump on the PBS Newshour yesterday at one of his latest campaign rallies. Apparently his stance on this is that Biden should have done the EV tarriff four years ago. Now, four years ago today, Donald Trump was President, but let’s not let that get in the way of a good speech, right?

TheDemonBuer,
@TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world avatar

Nice try, Joe, but I will never buy a Tesla. Ever.

2fat4that,
2fat4that avatar

Than buy a Rivian.

bluewing,

Ain’t spending that stupid amount of money for either a Tesla or Rivian. Make something half the price that can run 300 miles, and you will have my attention, (the Chevy Bolt was so close).

EVs are toys for the upper middle class and the rich.

TheDemonBuer,
@TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world avatar

I would consider it, though they don’t currently sell anything I would consider to be affordable.

ouRKaoS,

Those pickup trucks do look really nice, though. If I ever triple my salary I might consider one.

SmokumJoe,

Bezos owns a bit of that.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

At $74k per truck, you could buy 2.5 $30k Priusi

The Silverado Electric is at least in an affordable ballpark, at $40k for their base model. But what the hell does everyone need a truck for, anyway? I see them in the office parking garage all the time, and I can’t imagine what everyone thinks they’re lifting or towing.

Meanwhile, the BYD Seagull goes for under $10k, a third the price of a Nissan Leaf.

lightnsfw,

I buy lumber every couple of weekends. Sometimes used furniture. Can’t do that in my Civic. So I have to borrow my dad’s truck. I’d love to get a light pickup like the S-10 or Ranger used to be (and electric if it was available) but there’s nothing like that available these days because of American bullshit.

Wiz,

Yes, you seem to need it, but almost every time I see a pickup truck, it is:

  • Driven by a white dude with no passengers
  • Has no cargo
  • Not hauling anything

I full up my 11-gallon tank in my small 4-door car. I can’t imagine the expense of filing that up, nor the payments of purchasing one

lightnsfw,

Yea, that’s a big part of why I haven’t got one. For my daily commute my car is fine and very economical. If they still made small trucks a single cab with a full size bed would be perfect for me but that’s apparently not in line with what the rest of the country wants. If my dad sells his though I might have to bite the bullet.

Zron,

I’m excited for affordable electric trucks.

I do a lot of wood working as a hobby and some commissions for friends, and deeply regret having to sell my old F150 for a van. Now I have to rent a store pickup if I need to move large sheets of plywood or long pieces of dimensional lumber. I also work in the trades, and while it’s possible to move most of the stuff I need in my van, a pickup would be nice, as long as it doesn’t suck down gas like it’s got a hole in the tank.

Having an electric pickup that doesn’t cost as much as a corvette would be really nice for my use case.

mlg,
@mlg@lemmy.world avatar

They’re banning 25 year old kei trucks, they were definitely not gonna allow China to compete.

God forbid we try to save the planet without making morbillions in shareholder value first.

Vytle,

Electric cars will not save the planet, they will save the auto industry. Use a bike to get around whenever possible if you actually care.

bluewing,

As far as I know, the Feds aren’t banning Kei style trucks. But most states are banning them from road use. Since they do not meet highway safety standards. But that’s what makes the cheap - deleting all the safety equipment and being under powered. But you can still get as many as you like. And you are still welcome to drive them off road.

gamermanh,
@gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

deleting all the safety equipment and being under powered

That must be why those death traps regularly kill people in all of the countries where they’re regularly used!

And even if that (crap) reason is why: ban them from the freeways, then, not from every fucking road. You know, like mopeds and similar small scooters?

bluewing,

First, the countries where they are popular tend to have limited higher speed roadways and the general population doesn’t want to own one anyway. And some countries simply do not care if you die in one. It is pretty hard to get seriously hurt of killed at 20mph speeds.

Second, trying to legislate where people might drive those things will prove to be futile. We both know Bubba and Ken will think “it’s only a little ways” and try to get one of these those things up on a highway speed roadway in a grossly overloaded tiny little pickup. Only to be run over by an 80,000lbs semi or smacked in the rear-end by Karen in her Suburban doing 70 mph in a 50mph zone. This is probably a very good case where the rules banning them from roads are to protect people from their own stupidity.

We kill enough people every year in the highly engineered for safety vehicles we already have. And besides, I have seen people drive and most of y’all shouldn’t.

You999,

The feds aren’t banning them but there’s a 25% tarrif on importing them because of the chicken tax tarrif.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

God forbid we try to save the planet without making morbillions in shareholder value first.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4eff8d56-223a-4d3f-8a54-77c41d9eed30.jpeg

S_204,

I’m still more interested in one than I am a Tesla.

caboose2006,

It’s the chicken tax all over again

OutOfMemory,

The funny thing is, even after the 100% price increase they’re still cheaper than american EVs.

Mataresian,

Not if they use that money to subsidise American EV’s.

londos,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/5f998cf7-15a1-4ff2-8290-8c7457adc913.jpeg

Mataresian,

Fair point.

Wiz,

Bimbo Baggins: “I think I’ll just keep it!”

OutOfMemory,

One can only hope!

frezik,

Adjusted for inflation, they’re even cheaper than the Geo Metro was. 1998 Metro is around $19k in 2024 dollars, while some of these Chinese cars are clocking under $14k.

However, you should also expect it to function like a car cheaper than a Geo Metro.

Fedizen, (edited )

the way to do it is a mile based shipping tax on all goods, but congress would have to do that. This is just dumb.

Edit: it does say these EV’s are subsidized

issastrayngewerldkbin,

They'll just make all the parts and send them to the US for assembly.

reddig33,

Or Mexico. And honestly I’m fine with that. Create some jobs outside of China for a change.

BeMoreCareful,

China has been pretty well known for bringing in their own workers on foreign construction projects. They’re unapologetically nation building. I could easily see them continue to do so with manufacturing.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find out a majority of US cars are manufactured with Chinese parts. The US is absolutely not nation building. The rust belt has been exported and nobody really wants to bring it back.

eatCasserole,

Funny how when China makes a bunch of cars it’s “over capacity” and needs 100% tariffs, but Japan has been doing the same thing for decades and no one batted an eye.

Maddier1993,

Actually japanese cars had the same scare mongering and protectionism

DarkGamer,
DarkGamer avatar

The Chinese EVs are heavily subsidized by the CCP. I suspect they want that sweet sweet driver data, and to put foreign manufacturers out of business.

Fedizen,

I think this is to combat subsidies, but it begs the question on why other subsidized products out of china aren’t tariffed.

Naich,

mastodon.green/

gibmiser,

Simple way to make this policy make sense. Instead of a tariff on imports make it a huge subsidy on domestic EVs. We can give the military contractors billions, but giving the American people cheap cars is somehow a bad investment? Soon many positive side effects of a direct, non monetary stimulus

Argongas,

AFIK, all the subsides for EVa in the US already require them to be made and produced domestically.

echutaa,

There’s no incentive for US automakers to build cheaper EVs from this. This is just protectionism which is fine when China is subsidizing their production past the point of profitability, but this will still work against making American EVs more affordable.

RememberTheApollo_,

Didn’t US companies that were making EV raise their prices as soon as the government added or increased buyer incentive rebates?

The greedy assholes basically pocketed the rebate while the consumer got nothing.

So IMO these manufacturers will just pocket a significant chunk of the subsidy and pass little of the savings on to the consumer. Already many of them claim financial woes, it’s no stretch for them to soak up the cash and say “but we had to…” and get no punishment because the administration doesn’t want to kill the industry it’s trying to support. I mean, $55bn pay packages have to come from somewhere, right?

gibmiser,

Make the subsidy based on current prices and only EVs that are X price or below qualify. There are solutions, we would just have to, I dunno, craft thoughtful legislation aimed at helping Americans and not companies? Sounds like a lot of work though…

Or let me put it this way: do you think lawmakers write the laws they sign? Industry groups and lobbyists write the laws, lawmakers tweak them or just sign them.

BastingChemina,

This is what France is doing.

The subsidy for EV is 27% of the price of the car with a maximum of 4000€. (+3000€ for people with low revenues).

The cost of the car must be under 47000€, the car must weight less than 2400kg and it must have a low environmental impact during its production.

The goal of this last rule is clearly to indirectly exclude cars produced in China. I think tariffs against a specific country is not possible in the European Union so French lawmakers had to come up with a creative solution to exclude Chinese cars.

gibmiser, (edited )

Makes sense to me. Guess they had to put some thought into it.

Our laws are as good as we make them. Our legislators don’t wanna put in the work, frankly it seems because they don’t care. All that matters is lobbyists money and that your team wins.

nutsack,

hell yes Americans hate cost effective stuff

Shyfer,

And the environment! It’s double whammy of an American policy

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Throw another one on the pile of reasons to not support him.

dan1101,

Trump would be no better. If I had to make a rough scorecard it would be Biden 55 and Trump about 4.

Maddier1993,

It’s sad that you think “Not Biden” defaults to “Trump”

2fat4that,
2fat4that avatar

That is 100% the current situation.

toasteecup,

It’s sad that for anyone to vote for a candidate in the US it actually is Trump or Biden.

You’re welcome to say 3rd party all you want but that 1% of the vote ain’t saying much good.

Cybermonk_Taiji,

It LITERALLY does on this election cycle. That’s it, reality is real.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

The only two people that exist in the world

2fat4that,
2fat4that avatar

Welcome to the two-party system. If you’d ever like that to change, you have a better chance of doing that with a democrat majority.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

why would I have any chance at all with either of the two parties that are perpetuating it?

Cybermonk_Taiji,

So what’s your plan?

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Voting

Cybermonk_Taiji,

How is voting going to help if the only two choices you have to vote for won’t solve the problem? What is voting specifically going to do to fix the problem as you see it?

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Theres not only two choices

Cybermonk_Taiji,

Foolishness

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Is germany foolish for having more than two choices?

Cybermonk_Taiji,

This isn’t Germany, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

They had an actual dictator and now theyre putting our democracy to shame. American voters are pathetic

Cybermonk_Taiji,

Look up first past the post voting versus ranked choice voting. The system here is broken by design, it needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, but this year we have to defend against more attempts at authoritarian takeover and the loss of what little democracy we have here. It’s a serious fucking situation not time to pine for what could have been. If you want real democracy to ever have a chance here first you have to defeat those trying to kill it entirely.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Im well aware of ranked choice voting, the candidate im voting for has it in their campaign platform. It doesnt just manifest out of thin air.

dan1101,

You can vote for me and I wouldn’t mess it up as much as Biden or especially Trump. But 2 votes aren’t enough to beat millions.

SuiXi3D,
@SuiXi3D@fedia.io avatar

Like, I agree, but do you actually think Trump is a better choice?

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

I think supporting someone other than Biden or Trump is a better choice

Xtallll,
@Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

And if wishes were pennies, we would all be rich.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

you wishing for a Biden presidency

Trashboat,
@Trashboat@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Compared to Trump? You’re absolutely freakin right I am

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

but I cant compare someone else favorably to Trump.

Trashboat,
@Trashboat@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Not really, because unless you can convince a majority of Americans to vote third party, which is unbelievably unlikely, then Biden or Trump are the options. On top of that, when you start pulling left wing votes away from Biden, it makes it easier for Trump to win unless you hit the point of majority support, which is again incredibly unlikely. I wish that weren’t the reality, but that’s how it is currently, and I hella do not want another term of Trump as I believe that’d be genuinely ruinous.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

hate self fulfilling prophecies, people act like they dont have free will.

2fat4that,
2fat4that avatar

Settle down, comrade. You’re not talking me into throwing away my vote by citing my free will lol. The current flavors being sold are vanilla and fascism. Vanilla sounds fine.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

how many times have you had to wave away active villainy by comparing him to ice cream?

Trashboat,
@Trashboat@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

It’s not that I don’t want it to change, it’s that I’m exceedingly doubtful it’ll happen in a single election via a third party unless we get a knight in shining armor that sweeps the voters off their feet. Of the two parties we currently really have a choice between, the Dems are the only one that have a chance of improving the situation, as the republicans are purely regressive. So my hope and what I think is more realistically possible is that they can be a stepping stone towards improving the system in the long run. But if we do get the knight in shining armor that has an actual chance, they’ll get my vote

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Do you understand what i mean by self fulfilling prophecy? There is only one thing that is preventing a third party contender from being seen as viable: not being seen as viable. You’re never going to get a knight in shining armor that has a chance, because you yourself will make sure no one gets a chance.

Cybermonk_Taiji,

And I hate self deluded fools who can’t see what’s going on in the actual world and instead retreat into fantasy land, but here we are.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Whats going on in the actual world is a lot of much more representative governments in other countries, with several political parties elected. Theyve got voters with free will that vote for who they want and theyve got way more progressive policies going as a result.

Cybermonk_Taiji,

That has absolutely nothing to do with the current election in the United States and you know that. The future may bring change but this year this is all we fucking have. That’s it.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Are all americans just born with a disability that makes them incapable of voting for someone outside of 2 parties? The other countries are proof of the possibility you insist is impossible. Howd they do it, huh?

We’re in the future, we’re in a future several decades past people like you saying we have no choice but to vote for one of two people. Why would you think the future would bring change as you fight against any attempt at change? Cant wait for 2040, trump jr vs a banking lobbyist

SuiXi3D,
@SuiXi3D@fedia.io avatar

If we had ranked choice voting, sure. However, in our current two party system with first past the post voting, there are only two choices that actually matter. It fucking sucks.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Im tired of hearing people fight against what they want. You know who supports ranked choice voting? The Green Party candidate for president.

SuiXi3D,
@SuiXi3D@fedia.io avatar

Ah yes, Jill Stein, known to take Russian money. That’ll surely help things.

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

got a source on that? Or just the usual assumptions

evergreen,

Ive never seen any credible evidence of an actual transfer of funds to Stein from Russia, but there is definitely evidence that they support her in order to siphon votes from the Democratic candidate. U.S. elections affect the entire world and it is no surprise that enemies of the U.S. are going to use every resource they can to alter the results in their favor.

nbcnews.com/…/russians-launched-pro-jill-stein-so…

www.intelligence.senate.gov/…/Report_Volume2.pdf

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Ive never seen any credible evidence of an actual transfer of funds to Stein from Russia

alright, that’s all Stein is responsible for. Can we vote for ranked choice now?

evergreen, (edited )

Sure but if we fail to succeed, which is highly likely, then we get to plunge the country into fascism, y’all qaeda style sharia law, aiding and abetting Putin, etc. I’m sure you’ve heard it all though.

NoIWontPickAName,

And they have no reason to change it as long as you fall in line

Maddier1993,

It’s sad that people come out of the woodworks like you only to invoke the orange man whenever somebody says they don’t agree with something Biden is doing. I mean, leaving the MAGA crowd out for now… don’t you think we can have a better conversation trying to think beyond the next presidential race?

We know there’s probably some anti-Biden propaganda around. We get it. How about you assume for one moment that whoever it is you are replying to is actually smart enough to understand what it means to elect Trump and are already aware to vote for Biden in the general election? Why don’t you actually address the problems with Biden without comparing him to Trump?

HubertManne,
HubertManne avatar

yeah I love globalism. its been so great.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Yeah, don’t forget to vote for him though.

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