While Washington’s efforts to block Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) were originally intended to protect its domestic automotive industry, they have sparked concerns the strategy is hurting America’s carmaking competitiveness.
With a lack of a coherent industrial policy discouraging long-term investment, the protectionist approach was backfiring on Detroit’s EV transition, said David Zhang, a macroeconomics and policy analyst at Trivium China, who added that EVs could be a “perfect concession” in US-China trade talks, and that China had “ample reason” to push for market access.
Chinese EV makers face tariffs of more than 100 per cent in the United States, while Washington has also imposed restrictions on China-linked software and hardware to address data security concerns.