you are right but under the current mendacious and incompetent regime in the US probably won't happen. meanwhile the rest of the world move on from the USA EU free trade with India has concluded successfully and more to come. MAGA stupidity is just another way of growing poorer and more isolated.
“The move might even serve as a signal that if Trump starts threatening Canada the way he’s been threatening Greenland, Canada could geopolitically reorient toward China for protection.”
If Trump starts threatening Canada? It’s been about a year hasn’t it that Trump has been talking about annexing us? And now members of his administration are playing footsie with Alberta separatists https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8ylqx0zw4o
I don’t see us looking to a different authoritarian superpower for protection (our moves with China are about trade diversification). Our heart is with all of the democratic middle powers and with our liberal democratic friends to our south.
We just bought a Ford Mustang Mach-e EV. With incentives, the price was close to the current US median new car price. It's an outstanding vehicle, powerful, good ride, great tech. It's got the best Apple CarPlay implementation of any car I've ever driven. Range, at 300 miles, is fine.
I guess the stats show that people aren't buying as many EVs, but it sure isn't lack of quality or exorbitant price.
Great post. 100% agree. I'm old enough to remember how awful US cars were before the Japanese inundated us with super dependable, efficient Hondas & Toyotas. Let's be smart!
I was pretty skeptical at first and was thinking “no way” when I first started to read your piece, but the “force Detroit to compete” point changed how I was thinking about it.
We’ve seen this before in manufacturing with Japanese cars too. It hurt in the short term, but it ended up pushing U.S. automakers to actually modernize instead of just protecting legacy tech.
What do you mean by "cheap"? In what world is the $42k quoted cheap? My 1999 Saturn cost $4600 used with 30k miles and got me to 230k miles. Now I'm driving a 2015 Nissan Versa that cost $18k new. Similar cars today cost about $25k, which is already exiting affordability for me.
I agree with Noah about letting Chinese vehicles into the US. Trump and MAGA are rejecting the electric stack including electric vehicles, solar and wind energy, motor and almost everything associated with the electrification of the economy. The rest of the world are transforming their countries to be based on electricity derived majorly from solar and wind, while MAGA is forcing expensive, inefficient coal power plants to stay open? Do you want your son or daughter working in a coal mine?! Noah is correct that the domestic automobile manufacturers will give up on EVs and just continue to build internal combustion engine cars unless they are forced to have to compete with low cost, high quality Chinese imports. The one thing I would add to what Noah has said is that even without a JV, there can be a high degree of technology and knowhow transfer. Apple built their phones in China without a JV, but it was enormously beneficial to China because Apple trained thousands of engineers and showed them how to build world call products. And then many of these workers left the Apple factories and the knowledge and knowhow was diffused in Huawei, Xiaomi, and others. But please, listen to Noah. We need to start building the manufacturing foundations for the electric stack. The government should be taking the lead in this, but even if that isn't possible with MAGA, Noah's idea of allowing Chinese EVs into the US will force some of the changes necessary to begin to embrace the electric stack and begin to move the US toward a future powered by abundant, cheap electricity.
The Chinese EVs (and cars in general) are so much better than US cars in terms of quality and value that letting them in will be the end of the US auto industry. Look at how China has gone from nothing to 30% of the global industry in under 30 years and how the US has fallen to irrelevancy. Without tariffs, it is impossible for a US-made car to be globally price competitive.
you are right but under the current mendacious and incompetent regime in the US probably won't happen. meanwhile the rest of the world move on from the USA EU free trade with India has concluded successfully and more to come. MAGA stupidity is just another way of growing poorer and more isolated.
“The move might even serve as a signal that if Trump starts threatening Canada the way he’s been threatening Greenland, Canada could geopolitically reorient toward China for protection.”
If Trump starts threatening Canada? It’s been about a year hasn’t it that Trump has been talking about annexing us? And now members of his administration are playing footsie with Alberta separatists https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8ylqx0zw4o
I don’t see us looking to a different authoritarian superpower for protection (our moves with China are about trade diversification). Our heart is with all of the democratic middle powers and with our liberal democratic friends to our south.
Why allow cars to communicate with the internet at all? No radio transceiver, no security problem.
We just bought a Ford Mustang Mach-e EV. With incentives, the price was close to the current US median new car price. It's an outstanding vehicle, powerful, good ride, great tech. It's got the best Apple CarPlay implementation of any car I've ever driven. Range, at 300 miles, is fine.
I guess the stats show that people aren't buying as many EVs, but it sure isn't lack of quality or exorbitant price.
(Tangential but related fiction recommendation: "Attack Surface" by Cory Doctorow, about hacking into and using EVs as a mass weapon.)
BYD already has a plant in Lancaster, California. It is unionized and hires veterans to build electric buses. It’s a different market, but the sky hasn’t fallen. See https://www.modern-times.blog/p/the-us-should-set-the-terms-of-competition.
Great post. 100% agree. I'm old enough to remember how awful US cars were before the Japanese inundated us with super dependable, efficient Hondas & Toyotas. Let's be smart!
I was pretty skeptical at first and was thinking “no way” when I first started to read your piece, but the “force Detroit to compete” point changed how I was thinking about it.
We’ve seen this before in manufacturing with Japanese cars too. It hurt in the short term, but it ended up pushing U.S. automakers to actually modernize instead of just protecting legacy tech.
What do you mean by "cheap"? In what world is the $42k quoted cheap? My 1999 Saturn cost $4600 used with 30k miles and got me to 230k miles. Now I'm driving a 2015 Nissan Versa that cost $18k new. Similar cars today cost about $25k, which is already exiting affordability for me.
Let's see what happens at the April Trump-Xi meeting in this regard.
I agree with Noah about letting Chinese vehicles into the US. Trump and MAGA are rejecting the electric stack including electric vehicles, solar and wind energy, motor and almost everything associated with the electrification of the economy. The rest of the world are transforming their countries to be based on electricity derived majorly from solar and wind, while MAGA is forcing expensive, inefficient coal power plants to stay open? Do you want your son or daughter working in a coal mine?! Noah is correct that the domestic automobile manufacturers will give up on EVs and just continue to build internal combustion engine cars unless they are forced to have to compete with low cost, high quality Chinese imports. The one thing I would add to what Noah has said is that even without a JV, there can be a high degree of technology and knowhow transfer. Apple built their phones in China without a JV, but it was enormously beneficial to China because Apple trained thousands of engineers and showed them how to build world call products. And then many of these workers left the Apple factories and the knowledge and knowhow was diffused in Huawei, Xiaomi, and others. But please, listen to Noah. We need to start building the manufacturing foundations for the electric stack. The government should be taking the lead in this, but even if that isn't possible with MAGA, Noah's idea of allowing Chinese EVs into the US will force some of the changes necessary to begin to embrace the electric stack and begin to move the US toward a future powered by abundant, cheap electricity.
Bill Maher calls out the Democratic hypocrisy on tariffs here -
https://youtu.be/0Xq7vfwE_9Q?si=1tBqs2T8jHZl7jFE
The Chinese EVs (and cars in general) are so much better than US cars in terms of quality and value that letting them in will be the end of the US auto industry. Look at how China has gone from nothing to 30% of the global industry in under 30 years and how the US has fallen to irrelevancy. Without tariffs, it is impossible for a US-made car to be globally price competitive.
'government subsidies force it to be viciously competitive'. That's not supposed to happen. Milton Friedman said so.
I guess it's all about how the subsidies are designed?
https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2024/08/13/china-as-a-model/
Thanks for the link. Very interesting article.