There is concern about Chinese cars. While Europe considers the steps to follow, in the United States they have made a move. And how. They have multiplied by four the tariffs on imports of electric vehicles from China, which they go from 25% to 100%as the White House confirmed this Tuesday in a statement.
This protectionist movement goes beyond cars. Joe Biden's government adds these trade obstacles to photovoltaic panels – these range from 25 to 50% –, the semiconductor industry and cranes. We must “protect Americans from China's unfair trade practices,” they say. According to calculations by the North American executive, it affects imports of 16,667 million euros).
It seems that, unlike in Europe, they do not want the incentives to purchase electric cars that are being prepared there to help foreign companies. They want this investment of hundreds of millions of dollars that helps the transition to electric vehicles to also be support for their industry and not for that of the Asian country.
Tariffs on lithium-ion vehicle batteries (and parts) will also increase in 2024 from 7.5% to 25%. Two years later, lithium-ion batteries that are not used in electric vehicles will also suffer this increase.
Strategy change
The European automobile industry is more dependent on China than the European one, since for many of them the Asian giant is their main market… and they manufacture many vehicles there, hence many manufacturers positioned themselves against the opinion of Ursula Von der They read. In the United States she argues for changing her decision beyond the automotive industry. They claim that China controls “up to 90% of the world's production of critical inputs for the technology, infrastructure and healthcare industries” and that “creates unacceptable risks for United States supply chains and economic security,” according to what they say from the White House.
Excess capacity and exports “threaten to significantly harm the United States”, something that the Chinese Government denies: “the problem of Chinese excess capacity does not exist.”
Tariffs are also rising on steel and aluminum (due to their large emissions that accelerate the climate crisis) and on semiconductors – doubling to 50% in 2025 – since according to those responsible for the US executive, “China's rapid expansion risks expelling the private investment of companies. After the Covid-19 pandemic, the North American country invested 49,106 million euros to increase its manufacturing, research and innovation capacity for American semiconductors.
The same occurs in health elements… and they also announced that they maintain the tariffs on Chinese products for more than 300,000 million dollars (278,000 million euros) implemented during Donald Trump's term.
Let's see the Chinese response now.
