Even with the new 100% tariff on electric vehicles imported from China, BYD would still have the cheapest EV in the US. According to a new report, BYD’s lowest-priced EV would still undercut all US automakers at under $25,000.
After discontinuing the production of vehicles powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March 2022, BYD has been at the forefront of the industry’s shift to EVs.
Honestly in my opinion it is time to remove all tariffs on EVs under 25k and let anyone who wants to fill that slot in. American car manufacturers refuse to fill the market need.
It’s because the so-called “subsidies” from the Chinese government are much more than the “subsidies” wielded by the American government. In America a subsidy amounts to throwing money and tax breaks at corporations and asking them to make something with it - but Chinese subsidies are direct investments, with the government controlling how the money is spent and staying involved every step of the way. That’s why they turn so reliably into increased production and reduced prices while our own subsidies tend to turn into stock buybacks.
There’s really no practical reason why the US couldn’t adopt a similar industrial policy - imagine going to GM/Ford/Chevy and paying them to build new EV factories in Detroit, directly overseeing the whole process from start to finish, and leaving behind government representatives at all levels of the factories’ operation - but the reason we don’t do it is pretty much purely ideological.
Most of the subsidies that article was talking about are actually domestic buyers subsidies.
But wouldn’t that be communism?! We wouldn’t want that! 😱