‘We cannot allow China to bring its government-backed cheating to the American auto industry,’ Sen. Sherrod Brown said.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has called on President Joe Biden to ban all China-made electric vehicles (EV) amid growing concerns that these imported cars could decimate the U.S. auto industry.
In a
letter dated April 11 to the president, the senator warned that heavily subsidized cheap Chinese EVs could undermine U.S. economic and national security. “I implore you to take bold, aggressive action and to permanently ban EVs produced by Chinese companies or whatever subsidiaries they establish to conceal their origins,” Mr. Brown said.
“Chinese electric vehicles are an existential threat to the American auto industry,” Mr. Brown warned in a
press release. “We cannot allow China to bring its government-backed cheating to the American auto industry.”
The senator from Ohio warned that tariffs alone can not prevent China’s cars from flooding the U.S. market because of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cheating playbook. He pointed out these tactics involve identifying key global emerging industries, mobilizing large-scale domestic employment for them, and then heavily subsidizing them to eliminate foreign rivals. “This monopolistic approach undermines critical manufacturing sectors across the United States, Canada, and Europe—from solar panels to batteries to steel.”
“When the goal is to dominate a sector, tariffs are insufficient to stop their attack on American manufacturing; instead, the Administration should act now to ban Chinese EVs before they destroy the potential for the U.S. EV market,” Mr. Brown said.
At present, Chinese EVs imported to the United States face a 27.5 percent tariff. This includes a 2.5 percent import tariff plus an additional 25 percent tariff imposed since the Trump administration and renewed during the Biden administration.
The CCP has been supporting its homegrown EV industry for years through enormous government subsidies and preferential policies. According to
MIT Technology Review, from 2009 to 2022, the Chinese regime poured $29 billion into its EV industry via subsidies and tax breaks.
As a result of the subsidies, China’s EV exports have soared by 851 percent in the past three years to account for 60 percent of the global EV market. China surpassed Japan to become the largest car exporter for the first six months of 2023.
In the letter, Mr. Brown raised concerns that a surge in imported Chinese EVs in the United States could cripple the American manufacturing base because each auto job supports about 11 other jobs, citing
Alliance for American Innovation. “Losing the automotive manufacturing base poses a major threat to our economic and national security,” he warned.
In February, an industry group, the Alliance for American Manufacturing,
warned that subsidized cheap Chinese EVs from Mexico could destroy the U.S. auto industry.
China’s biggest EV company, BYD, considered building a plant in Mexico to expand its business to North America, according to
The Wall Street Journal. Other Chinese EV big names such as Cherry and SAIC Motors already intend to site plants in Mexico,
Motor Trend reports.
The warning comes amid reports that Chinese EV firms have heavily invested in Mexico to benefit from favorable tariffs under a trade agreement between Washington and its neighboring trading partner.
Mr. Brown pointed out that the European Union auto industry now suffers due to low tariffs from imported Chinese EVs to the bloc.
In September 2023, the European Commission officially
began to open an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese EVs. In Europe, Chinese EVs benefit from a reduced tariff of 10 percent and favorable green policies, which have created opportunities for their expansion within the European Union. Consequently, European automakers find it challenging to compete in the EV sector within their own market, predominantly against Chinese rivals.
In addition, Mr. Brown also warned that Chinese EVs could pose a national security issue given technology in these cars can potentially allow the CCP to gain access and collect data on U.S. critical infrastructure as well as Americans’ lives.
Mr. Brown’s move followed many other lawmakers’ efforts to restrict Chinese EVs to compromise the U.S. market and American auto industry.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in February
proposed legislation that would increase additional tariffs on Chinese imported vehicles to 100 percent from the current 27.5 percent, resulting in a total tariff of 127.5 percent on all imported vehicles from China.
In November 2023, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party also
called on the Biden administration to increase tariffs on Chinese EVs and strengthen rules on countries of origin to prevent these imported cars from flooding the United States. The committee said that with substantial subsidies from the CCP, Chinese EV makers could withstand the loss of the current 27.5 percent imposed on China-made vehicles to compete in the U.S. market successfully.
