Final Thursday, the Biden administration introduced it might examine the safety dangers posed by Chinese language-made good vehicles, which may “accumulate delicate knowledge about our residents and our infrastructure and ship this knowledge again to the Individuals’s Republic of China,” the assertion from White Home claims.

Whereas many different applied sciences from China have been scrutinized due to safety issues, EVs have largely prevented that form of consideration till now. In spite of everything, they signify a know-how that can vastly assist the world transition to wash and renewable vitality, and other people have greeted its speedy development in China with reward.

However US-China relations have been at a low level for the reason that Trump years and the pandemic, and it looks as if solely a matter of time earlier than any commerce or interplay between the 2 international locations falls beneath safety scrutiny. Now it’s EVs’ flip.

The White Home has made clear that there are two motivations behind the investigation: the economic system and safety.

Despite the fact that the assertion didn’t explicitly point out EVs, it’s simple that they’re the one motive Chinese language automakers have now turn out to be critical challengers to their American friends. Chinese language firms like BYD make high quality EVs at inexpensive costs, making them more and more aggressive in worldwide markets. A latest report by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an business group, even describes EV competitors as “China’s existential risk to America’s auto business.”

“The problem of Chinese language EV imports actually hits on so many main political elements all on the identical time,” says Kyle Chan, a sociology researcher at Princeton College who research industrial insurance policies and China. “Not simply the auto crops in swing states like Michigan and Ohio, however the broader auto manufacturing sector unfold over many essential states.”

If the US auto business fails to stay aggressive, it should threaten the job safety of tens of millions of People, and numerous different elements of the US economic system shall be affected. So it’s no shock Chinese language EVs are seen as a significant financial risk that must be addressed. 

In truth, it’s one of many few points everybody appears to agree on on this election cycle. Earlier than the Biden investigation, Trump drew individuals’s consideration to Chinese language EVs throughout marketing campaign speeches, vowing to slap a 60% tariff on Chinese language imported items. Josh Hawley, a Republican senator and a longtime China hawk, proposed a invoice final Tuesday for a whopping 125% tariff on Chinese language vehicles, together with Chinese language-branded vehicles made in different international locations like Mexico.