Wall Street Journal:
The Biden administration is preparing to raise tariffs on clean-energy goods from China in the coming days, with the levy on Chinese electric vehicles set to roughly quadruple, according to people familiar with the matter.
Higher tariffs, which Biden administration officials are preparing to announce on Tuesday, will also hit critical minerals, solar goods and batteries sourced from China, according to the people. The decision comes at the end of a yearslong review of tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump on roughly $300 billion in goods from China.
Officials are particularly focused on electric vehicles, and they are expected to raise the tariff rate to roughly 100% from 25%, according to the people. An additional 2.5% duty applies to all automobiles imported into the U.S. The existing 25% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles has so far effectively barred those models, often cheaper than Western-made cars, from the U.S. market. Biden administration officials, automakers and some lawmakers worry that wouldn’t be enough given the scale of Chinese manufacturing.
Bloomberg:
Once upon a time, Japanese cars were seen as an exotic and quirky product that could never take on the might of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. Right now, Chinese EVs are in a similar place.
“Corolla, New Economy Car, Is Shown Here by Toyota,” the New York Times yawned in a 1968 headline, introducing history’s best-selling automobile to the US market. Four years later, another piece noted with idle curiosity that Honda Motor Co. — “primarily a motorcycle name in the United States” — was starting to sell “diminutive” four-wheelers as well.
The story of the Big Three automakers’ hubristic fall to Japanese rivals is well-known, and should act as a warning to manufacturers who underestimate China’s competitive threat. With designers focused on large, powerful gas-guzzlers that earned better margins for Detroit’s inefficient production lines, the US auto industry in the 1970s failed to comprehend the appeal of affordable Japanese cars that sipped fuel, needed minimal maintenance, and came packed with standard features that local buyers were used to finding only as pricey add-ons.
Continue reading “Are US Carmakers Toast? China’s EVs Sleek, Well Made, and Cheap”