China has sharply ramped up its production of cheap electric vehicles, solar panels, and batteries just as the Biden administration has pushed through legislation supporting many of those same industries in the United States. ⠀
Chinese automaker BYD had recently introduced an electric SUV at the “astonishingly low” price of $14,000. China’s auto industry poses an “existential threat” to U.S. carmakers, the report argued. ⠀
After more than a decade of subsidizing its automakers, China has built a substantial car industry that accounts for 60% of global electric vehicle sales, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. ⠀
Yellen highlighted the Biden administration’s concerns by recalling a visit a week earlier to Suniva, a solar cell manufacturer in Norcross, Georgia.
The company “was once forced to close down, like other companies across a number of industries, because it could not compete against large quantities of goods that China was exporting at artificially depressed prices,” Yellen said. ⠀
China hasn’t committed to any steps to address American concerns, arguing that its cheap solar panels and other green products are helping the world wage the costly battle against climate change.
China hasn’t committed to any steps to address American concerns, arguing that its cheap solar panels and other green products are helping the world wage the costly battle against climate change.
Based. Pay no attention to the shit the US government says.
It helps wage the war against climate change, cost of living, and inflation. Simultaneously. How spectacular.
But America is worlds #1 oil producer. This is horrible for the shareholders.
Yes, green technology, bUt At WhAt CoSt? (US losing hegemony is the cost)
Oh no! We didn’t get on board and now we are falling behind.
If it isn’t the consequences of our own actions
GOOD. The US has practically raped the entire world. It’s time we pay, all of us.
I love how threatened the American capitalist class is about competition.
Makes sense… The only version of capitalism that works is government protected monopolies for a few… The only competitive strategy they know is lobbying
I have no problem with this, I’d buy a Chinese Ev today if they were available.
I bought a MG4, I’m extremely happy with this car and I hope the arrival of Chinese EV will lower the price of all EVs.
Have you seen the new Xiaomi SU7? Holy crap, that thing looks nice!
It’s actually absurd how the Xiaomi SU7 can sell for the same price as a decent Camry.
And designed by an ex Porsche designer
Is that why it takes so many design cues from the Taycan? Makes sense actually…
Whoa, pretty impressive for the price.
I’m getting my xpeng g9 in 2 weeks.
This reminds me of the shift in the car market when Japanese cars entered the market after the Oil Crisis. American auto makers, used to building unreliable land yachts, couldn’t adapt fast enough. Now we have American car makers building electric land yachts that people can’t afford, and are threatened by cheaper foreign cars.
But unlike Japan, they can’t force China into Plaza Accord and are panicking.
I am not sure i fully understand the issue. Are the cars and solar panels not good? Or is the issue that american car companies can’t compete? Because the latter is not really an issue.
Arnaud Bertrand wrote a great article on this.
TL;DR: The 3 main signs of overcapacity (capacity utilization rates, inventory levels, and profit margins) for China are all at similar rates as the US, indicating they are not in overcapacity. And they aren’t even selling them at a lower price abroad than at home to beat competition; it’s the opposite. He concludes that China is simply getting too efficient at manufacturing these days and the US is starting to struggle to compete with that, and this is just them trying to convince China to slow down.
So yeah, the actual “issue” here does seem to just be that the US isn’t able to compete with China in these fields anymore.
the actual “issue” here does seem to just be that the US isn’t able to compete with China in these fields anymore.
That’ll happen when you outsource all your manufacturing for a few decades in the pursuit of quick profits for wall street.
Then they can get fucked honestly. “Oh no I’m not winning in capitalism! Ban the competition! 🥺”
Have you sat in a Chinese EV? They put US and European one to shame.
Chinese solar panels used to not be great, but today they’re easily competitive with the best that US and European vendors have to offer but at a fraction of the cost.
The Xiaomi SU7 is a perfect example. Xiaomi took 3 years from concept to their very first car. That in itself is insanely impressive, let alone the fact it’s a great EV with a tonne of self-driving capability to rival Tesla, and comes in far cheaper. Watch the YouTube video about Xiaomi’s SU7 factory, it’s very impressive.
Meanwhile Apple decided to pull the plug on their first car. It’s pretty telling of the situation.
I have a xiaomi phone and I’m pretty impressed by their stuff. I have had zero issues and have had it for like 7 years.
I can’t afford any car as i can’t even afford getting a drivers license :(
It’s literally that one calebcity skit where he keeps shooting scientists that are making groundbreaking inventions because it threatens his profits lol
why would they NOT help make the transition to EVs cheaper?
this reads like a bad thing, just because it might hurt the us?
I don’t think it’s about EVs. My understanding is that it’s about protecting American auto manufacturers from “unfair” overseas competitors. There is a history here.
:: incoming semi-coherent rant::
Volkswagen was one of the first auto manufacturers to come to the US back in the 1950s. The us government set up a framework that allowed foreign manufacturers to establish themselves in the states. This was supposed to help the economy by making sure the cars sold here were manufactured here and abused by a set of standards the governing bodies set up.
Well eventually the Japanese got into the game and when brands like Toyota established themselves as cheaper and better than anything you could buy in America, the American car companies lobbied against it and won. This put a soft limit on how many cars could be imported from Japan (which in turn hurt Japan’s economy). At the time there was a lot of sentiment going around that the Japanese were taking people’s jobs so it actually was a very popular decision at the time (which seems weird because everyone was driving their cars).
Furthermore in the 1980s, people started importing and selling used cars from Europe. This hurt the auto manufacturers deeply as they could not compete with used luxury cars like Mercedes imported from Europe at those low used price points. This is why the auto manufacturers lobbied for a 25 year ban on the import and sale of cars (though they claim it was for safety, it was really to kill the grey market for imports).
The Truth is that a lot of other countries also followed the US in these Bans. Canada has the 20 year import ban and Europe has their own set of regulations.
Chinese cars and EVs will come to the West Eventually but first they’ll come under the names of brands that are already here like Volvo. You won’t see a Geely branded vehicle for a while unless they open up a Geely of America branch and begin shipping their parts here for assembly. This however will prevent them from having as much as a competitive edge in the US because labor is more expensive in the states than China and South East Asia.
Do they want you to transition to EVs? Yes. Do they want it to be cheap? No.
so what? western manufacturing crushed us and we were forced to hear that was the “free market” in action.
china is the only indistrialized country pushing new tech affordably and its now suddenly unfair you cant compete?
It is unfair, it’s just not “suddenly”.
i dont see you guys having that much of a problem with it when the “free” market is being unfair to us.
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Lmfao as if the US has any grounds to talk about human rights, with its fucking constitution protecting slavery in its prisons (which, consequently, has the highest prison population in the world)
Why does it matter if US green manufacturing is quashed? You could’ve said the same thing for US dominance in the combustion car industry starting from Ford, for US dominance in the tech industry for decades, for US dominance in the media industry…
Why is green energy somehow different? Cheap Chinese solar panels and EVs decrease cost of living for Americans. They decrease inflation. The only con is that they prevent more jobs from being created in green manufacturing in the US… But even then, that’s only because the US doesn’t let Chinese companies in.
Are you that much of a corporate apologist that you would rather people starve in the name of corporate profits than buy Chinese goods?
If you don’t understand the human rights element to the discussion then do some research. That’s all their pointing out.
Any industry that is subsidised by any government shouldn’t really be exported imo.
We’re talking about the country that constitutionally protects the right to slavery, right?
We’re also talking about the same country that gives semiconductor companies billions of dollars, EV companies billions of dollars, and cuts tax breaks to pharmaceutical companies, right?
Wait… Which country are we talking about?
if you think there is a human rights element to the discussion, and its not about the USA and their allies (like israel), then you need to do some research.
I totally agree, we need better human rights all round so defaulting to the cheapest and worst seems funking stupid.
Edit: oops didn’t notice which world news this is, what a surprise.
defaulting to the cheapest and worst
Fortunately we’re moving towards not defaulting to imperial core countries anymore.
We’re moving towards a country that has lifted 800 million people out of poverty so far and prioritizes workers over capitalists.
Lol solarpunk dude opposing cheap solar energy.
Opposing artificially cheap, cmon now, pay attention.
artificially
According to US government idiots, cmon now, pay attention.
This is the stupidest thread I’ve seen since reddit. Congratulations.
If it’s about Xinjiang then:
The US’s “Uyghur genocide” (“cultural” or otherwise) disinformation campaign has already been debunked several times over.
- The Xinjiang Genocide Allegations Are Unjustified
- The Uyghur Human Rights Project is a product of the National Endowment for Democracy, which is the American government’s main regime change NGO.
- Uyghur genocide allegations
- US-Funded Uyghur Activists Train as Soldiers of Empire
- A Reddit AMA Claiming To Be A Uyghur Quickly Exposes A CIA Asset Slandering China
- The blueprint of regime change operations
We see here for example the evolution of public opinion in regards to China. In 2019, the ‘Uyghur genocide’ was broken by the media (Buzzfeed, of all outlets). In this story, we saw the machine I described up until now move in real time. Suddenly, newspapers, TV, websites were all flooded with stories about the ‘genocide’, all day, every day. People whom we’d never heard of before were brought in as experts — Adrian Zenz, to name just one; a man who does not even speak a word of Chinese.
Organizations were suddenly becoming very active and important. The World Uyghur Congress, a very serious-sounding NGO, is actually an NED Front operating out of Germany […]. From their official website, they declare themselves to be the sole legitimate representative of all Uyghurs — presumably not having asked Uyghurs in Xinjiang what they thought about that.
The WUC also has ties to the Grey Wolves, a fascist paramilitary group in Turkey, through the father of their founder, Isa Yusuf Alptekin.
Documents came out from NGOs to further legitimize the media reporting. This is how a report from the very professional-sounding China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) came to exist. They claimed ‘up to 1.3 million’ Uyghurs were imprisoned in camps. What they didn’t say was how they got this number: they interviewed a total of 10 people from rural Xinjiang and asked them to estimate how many people might have been taken away. They then extrapolated the guesstimates they got and arrived at the 1.3 million figure.
Sanctions were enacted against China — Xinjiang cotton for example had trouble finding buyers after Western companies were pressured into boycotting it. Instead of helping fight against the purported genocide, this act actually made life more difficult for the people of Xinjiang who depend on this trade for their livelihood (as we all do depend on our skills to make a livelihood).
Any attempt China made to defend itself was met with more suspicion. They invited a UN delegation which was blocked by the US. The delegation eventually made it there, but three years later. The Arab League also visited Xinjiang and actually commended China on their policies — aimed at reducing terrorism through education and social integration, not through bombing like we tend to do in the West.
That’s right! I’d rather die in a wet bulb event on a boiling planet before I give a single dollar to those duplicitous Chinese!! We must protect American billionaire profits, at all costs.
One country controlling the technologies of the future is definitely a bad thing. But shouldn’t the response be to invest in R&D yourself, rather than starting a trade war?
