@davidho Politics. The United Auto Workers (UAW) is throwing their lot behind Biden, and the US EV market would struggle against cheaper Chinese EVs, so there’s a case to be made for supporting American, especially union backed, manufacturing.
You absolutely can argue that tariffs are not the way to go, that prioritizing this in place of a potentially gentler environmental impact via faster transition is wrong, but I don’t think raising the prospect of sinophobia is valid here.