The U.S. government should block the import of low-cost Chinese autos and parts from Mexico, a U.S. manufacturing advocacy group said on Friday, warning they could threaten the viability of American car companies.
The issue is they’re wanting to sell $30,000 cars for $15,000 (with the rest paid for by the Chinese government) which sounds great as a consumer until all the other manufacturers exit the market due to the impossibility of competing with those subsidies. Once they eliminate the competition, they’ll start selling these $30,000 cars for $50,000+ because “fuck you who else are you going to buy from?” That’s not to say the current crop of manufacturers aren’t fucking us over too but this isn’t how you eliminate that problem. You’re just trading one bully who steals your lunch money for another.
The issue is they’re wanting to sell $30,000 cars for $15,000 (with the rest paid for by the Chinese government)
[Citation needed]
China ended its national level domestic EV subsidies in 2022 so it makes very little sense to subsidize foreign buyers for 50% of the cost of a vehicle while cutting subsidies for domestic consumption which is much more economically and socially advantageous.
You admitted yourself the harm is already happening; just with American companies.
At the very worst, we are fucked either way.
The alternative is, maybe the Chinese government doesn’t fuck us over. So at least we have a chance with them.
Honestly, that leaves me wondering why you care other than the “scheming asiatic” angle to this
You say that like US car manufacturers would last a week without government subsidies.
One country subsidizing an industry while imposing tarrifs on another country for subsizing that same industry is literally an actionble dispute in the WTO so it is very much an actual rebuttal.
Try defending a WTO subsidies dispute with “Whataboutism!” And see how that goes.
True, but banning them seems like using a nuke to deal with a fly, just a bit overkill. I don’t expect the Chinese to play fair, but it seems that just saying that the rules only apply to American companies seems wrong and lazy.
Yeah I don’t think outright bans are much of a solution either. Tariffs would usually apply to a situation like this but it seems they can bypass those by building in and shipping from Mexico.
True, I’m not sure what the solution is, but saying the rules only apply to certain players rubs me the wrong way. And that’s not even getting started on how much of the threat comes from US automakers refusal to produce electric cars until they were staring down a gun, plus how much they want to sell large expensive vehicles so they get nice large paychecks. Sure, China could and prolly is subsidizing their electric car industry, but we could do that too, in a way we already are with the tax credit only applying to American made vehicles.
because “fuck you who else are you going to buy from?”
Well, you can buy from another China’s auto company or other country’s car company. Or maybe it will make your country allocate budget from something big and destructive to the world and reallocate them to the failing auto industry?
Oh come on. The US has super conservative and protectionist policies.
The fact is that both CATL and BYD have the upper edge in battery technology. And that a lot of Chinese car manufacturers have very good and competitive products.
European car brands are really struggling to transition to the future and still can’t figure out their software and technology. They are run by old guys who are still trying to save the ICEs as this technology is a gatekeeper of their businesses.
do you have any sources for that? because byd is selling their cars elsewhere in the world for 30k-50k usd new, similar to competing american brands. The only thing I can find is a tax incentive that’s less than the tax credit you can get in the us.
Interesting that you chose to use ‘capitalism’ as a pejorative while simultaneously trying to defend negative aspects of it.
I’m pointing out that your problem with this is the problem you should have with the entire wildly destructive and corrupt US auto industry, which is doing the thing you’re afraid chinese car makers might one day do. I know it’s a hard thing for people poisoned by nationalism to apply a standard uniformly, but do try.
