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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Electric vehicles may become a new front in America's tech war with China after a US senator called for Washington DC to block Chinese-made EVs to protect domestic industries and national security.
Sherrod Brown, senator for Ohio and chair of the Senate Banking Committee, penned a letter to President Biden, claiming "there are currently no Chinese EVs for sale in the United States, and we must keep it that way."
He warned that "Chinese EVs, highly subsidized by the Chinese government, could decimate our domestic automakers, harm American workers, and give China access to sensitive personal data," insisting the US government must ban Chinese-made EVs as soon as possible, calling it "a matter of economic and national security."
The move comes as the dispute between the two economic superpowers over technology rumbles on, with the US last week sanctioning four more Chinese companies, claiming they were involved with providing chips for accelerating AI to China's military and intelligence users.
Among those added to the Entity List maintained by the US Department of Commerce was Sitonholy (Tianjin) Co, understood to be one of the largest distribution channels for Nvidia's datacenter products in China, thus cutting off supplies of Nvidia GPUs to many Chinese companies.
[...] The number of Chinese cars purchased by US customers is understood to be very low as these are subject to an extra 25 percent tariff on top of the regular 2.5 percent import duty that DC applies to imported vehicles.
However, Senator Brown notes in his letter that BYD already sells an electric hatchback named the "Seagull" for the equivalent of less than $10,000. This compares with the $28,140 that has been reported as the starting price of the current cheapest electric car available in the US, the 2024 Nissan LEAF S.
There is also a national security twist as Senator Brown claims that data collected by the sensors and cameras in Chinese EVs could pose a threat. "China does not allow American-made electric vehicles near their official buildings. To allow their vehicles freedom to travel throughout the United States would be foolish and highly dangerous," he stated.
Senator Brown also claims in his letter that nearly 20 percent of all electric vehicles sold in Europe during 2023 were made in China, citing this as a cautionary example.
The European Commission last year announced an investigation into subsidies in the Chinese EV industry, but there are said to be misgivings in Germany and elsewhere that a ban on Chinese EVs could backfire, with Beijing retaliating by locking Western carmakers out of the lucrative China market entirely.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Wednesday April 17, @08:47PM (1 child)
People voted with their wallets and want the cheapest goods possible. China is the country that delivers on those cheap goods. We're going to see a shift in vehicles soon enough when they start selling cars at half the price of US companies. The cheapest new car you can buy is a Mitsubishi Mirage and it's $17,000. Before all the boomers get riled up, run your figures through the inflation calculator https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl [bls.gov] before replying.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Friday April 19, @06:08PM
Before all the boomers get riled up, run your figures through the inflation calculator
I think we boomers are quite a bit more acquainted with inflation than you ignorant children, son. In the 1960s the minimum wage bought ten McDonald's hamburgers. Those ten burgers are now $24.90. The US government has legalized wage theft by refusing to raise the minimum wage when there is inflation.
When I was a kid, there were no homeless and no working poor. Only single parents needed child care. But wage theft was illegal and employers were forced to pay a living wage.
In the 1980s, mortgages were up to 20%.
You kids don't know jack shit about inflation.
Poe's Law [nooze.org] has nothing to do with Edgar Allen Poetry