6/28/2024

US and EU fighting the EV war they cannot win

 The EU is committing Hara Kiri. In another sense the USA is doing mercy killing or committing Euthanasia against the EU. But never mind, it is all legal among close allies. No harm done!

No one wins in a trade war. Only Donald Trump, in his warp mind, thinks that trade wars are easy to win. Has the USA really won yet after so many years? In spite of the trade war, China is chalking up even bigger trade surplus with the USA. To indicate any semblance of winning, the trade balance should tilt the other way. But that has not happened, and it tells us the true story.

When Trump gets his second term, he is going to make USA even greater again. Already he promised 100% tariffs against Chinese EVs. Amidst all this hype up action, Chinese EV manufacturers appear set to ditch the USA, EU and Canada EV market altogether. On the other hand, China is set to impose retaliating tariffs on the EU cars, with an ultimatum that those EU tariffs be removed by July 4th in the run up to talks.

The situation smells trouble for USA and EU carmakers. While Chinese EV makers can always migrate from markets in USA and the EU to the much bigger Global South market to mitigate their losses, this is not possible for USA and EU carmakers in a Global South market they cannot compete.

Will that entail the USA passing laws or signing executive orders to prevent the sale of Chinese EVs in the Global South as well? The USA seems to believe that it can unilaterally enact laws that other countries must follow. Countries in the Global South will give the USA their middle fingers. The Africans will be the first to do that. 

Anonymous

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How could they ever think they could win? A myopic person that does not see further than his nose, makes all the mistakes without thinking about the consequences beforehand.

China is in a very advantageous position. It holds the production capacity, and it provides the major market for products. No other country holds both 'advantages' simultaneously. That is the undeclared strength of China. This is undoubtedly going to be China's century!

Japan, Germany and South Korea may hold the production capacity for high-end chips, cars, machine tools and others, but they need the China market. Same with the USA when it comes to dominating the semiconductor production sector with the Chips Alliance. Who does those companies in Arizona hope to sell their products to, no matter how big their factories are going to be? MacDonalds and KFC? Those are falling entities, closing outlets like wildfire sale.