China is at it again, ramping up production of heavily subsidized "green" tech to sell to well-meaning Westerners concerned with their carbon footprints. Normally, as a free-market aficionado I'd say fine, everyone should be free to make their own economic decisions - and every purchasing decision involves an economic choice, whether by purchasing a candy bar or a house.
China, though, likes to put its thumb on the scale, not only in its subsidizing of the tech sold abroad but also in ramping up its coal-fired electrical generation to power its "green" production. But, the Biden administration may be unintentionally doing something about that.
The usual "people who are familiar with the matter" are, according to NBC News, claiming that the Biden administration plans to raise tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles from the current 25 percent to 100 percent. The new tariff rate will reportedly also apply to such "green" items as solar panels and batteries:
The tariff rate on Chinese electric vehicles is set to roughly quadruple — from 25% to about 100% — the sources said. They also said that a rate hike would apply to Chinese batteries and solar panels — two areas that the Biden administration has invested in domestically.
Administration officials are planning to make the announcement Tuesday, though the timing could change.
The White House declined to comment.
This isn't a bad idea - but the Biden administration is doing it for the wrong reasons. NBC News' story continued:
In an interview this week with Marketplace, (Treasury Secretary Janet) Yellen was asked whether the U.S. was losing out competitively to China regarding electric vehicles and batteries.
“We don’t think the playing field is level,” Yellen responded. “And we think China is massively subsidizing investment in this set of industries that they have targeted as critical to their growth prospects.”
This much is accurate (and I seldom have to say that concerning any utterance by Janet Yellen), as China is indeed heavily subsidizing the manufacture of the very climate-change-avoiding "green" technology that they sell around the world. But there's a much more compelling reason to discourage the sale of Chinese electric vehicles and batteries in particular in the U.S. - they aren't safe.
Earlier this week, I reported on the catastrophic failures of Chinese electric vehicles and the lithium batteries used not only in those cars but in smaller vehicles, like the electric scooters that are ubiquitous in Chinese cities. That piece presented the actual video of explosions and other quality issues, such as air-bag failures and door latches failing, which in at least one case led to fatalities.
Previously on RedState: Chinese Electric Vehicle Companies Claim American Manufacturers 'Aren't Ready'
The fact is, this Chinese tech is not safe, and should not be imported into the United States at all. The cutoff - or the tariff hike, if that is the means to be used - should have been put in place the moment the poor quality of Chinese-made tech became apparent.
Add to that the fact that, while well-meaning Americans may buy these products hoping to lower their carbon footprints and attenuate the hobgoblin climate change, the Chinese products are manufactured by an industrial nation that was responsible for 95 percent of new coal-fired power plant production in 2023. Patronizing the Chinese manufacturers encourages the building of more smoke-spewing, high-carbon-emissions coal power plants.
As for leveling the playing field, increasing tariffs may have some effect there; China can't keep heavily subsidizing these industries forever. China has economic troubles of its own, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is increasingly unable to hide the Middle Kingdom's economic woes.
And hiding problems, as well as generally fakery, is something the Chinese government has a fair amount of experience with.
See Related: Chinese Zoo Dyes Dogs to Look Like Pandas - Another Example of Chinese Fakery
China has problems. The country not only has economic problems, but its population is about to fall off a demographic cliff, and the quality control in many of their manufacturing operations is non-existent; in my former life as a corporate quality management systems consultant, I have seen this for myself, time and time again, when dealing with Chinese companies. I have seen unacceptable shortcuts in manufacturing processes, faked process and product validations, forged quality inspections, and much, much more - and that's just my experience. Chinese goods in general should, at minimum, be viewed with considerable suspicion by American consumers.
In this case, the Biden administration may be in the right (policy) place, but they are there at the wrong time - and for the wrong reasons.
This seems appropriate.
