U.S. President Joe Biden is set to announce new China tariffs as soon as next week targeting strategic sectors including electric vehicles, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The full announcement, which could take place as soon as Tuesday, is expected to largely maintain existing levies, according to one of the people. An announcement could also be pushed back, the person said.
Biden, a Democrat seeking re-election in November, is looking to contrast his approach with that of Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has proposed across-the-board tariffs that White House officials see as too blunt and prone to spark inflation.
Biden has said he does not want a trade war with China even as he has said the countries have entered a new paradigm of competition.
@ThrilledRatGreen1wk1W
Absent from the discussion between EVs and ICE vehicles is the proliferation of American made pick up trucks the size of battle tanks.
Every new pick up is now 4 door, has wheels as large as a first grader and is so tall that most people under 5 feet struggle to get into them.
It's both a rural and urban American fetish (drive 10 minutes across any Canadian border and it's back to 2010). It's also quite frankly puzzling considering the volatility of the price of gas and overall concerns about the environment.
Some of us are old enough to remember when the Japanese auto industry was kicking the US Big 3 around, with affordable high quality. US industry was slow because it had stopped producing what people wanted and needed, instead putting financial engineering, and calcified political and union interests ahead.
No doubt conservatives will cry out for protectionist policies to “punish” China, rather than do something positively constructive for US capabilities to adopt EVs and other non- fossil fuel based technologies. The MAGA GOP is as much a dinosaur as the US auto industry and UAW.
@VetoPigletSocialist1wk1W
This will continue forever. The change must be made, and delay for current profit comes at the expense of the American consumer and the American taxpayer. This is not capitalism at its best.
We should be focusing a lot more on massive expansion of public transportation infrastructure and a lot less on private vehicles.
@DearPloverGreen1wk1W
Massive subsidies to public transportation, making most inter-city and regional transport free to users, makes sense.... but, of course, the fossil fuel lobby would 'veto' any such proposal.
.... their highly destructive battle cry has long been....
"the status quo is unsustainable.... Long Live the Status Quo "
The big US automakers should be trembling. GM currently produces and sells a tiny EV in China called the Wuling Hongguang that sells over there for about $5000. It's not up to US quality standards as it is consumer grade and not automotive grade and necessarily does not meet US crash safety standards. If the price was tripled, that would create plenty of room to make these adjustments and still be affordable.
Automotive engineer here - part of the problem is that a big chunk of the Big 3's business models is based on building large SUVs and pickups. The problem there is that large, heavy cars need large, heavy batteries, and since batteries are the main cost drivers in EVs, it's going to be hard for them to make money building electric behemoths.
@ISIDEWITH1wk1W
How do you think imposing tariffs on China's electric vehicles might affect the average consumer's ability to afford clean energy alternatives?
@9MC9YR71wk1W
Well that seems to be the smartest thing Biden has ever done because I don't like Electric Cars
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