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

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.

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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.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
    301·
    6 months ago

    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@lemmy.world
      9·
      6 months ago

      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@slrpnk.net
        3·
        6 months ago

        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@lemmy.world
          1·
          6 months ago

          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.