Bidenomics Makes Dumb EV Tariffs Necessary
For the sake of good union jobs, Americans must be prohibited from buying cheap imported EVs? Something is wrong with this picture.
Protected species.
Photographer: Alisha Jucevic/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In one sense, President Joe Biden’s punitive new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles are indeed necessary, just as he and his officials argue. What makes them so are the enormous sums that the administration is devoting to expanding US capacity to produce its own EVs. An almost-invariable characteristic of industrial policy is to start with one dumb idea, after which many more then follow – by necessity.
America’s domestic EV manufacturers are struggling despite generous subsidies. Output and sales are growing, but not as quickly as hoped. Early adopters have already adopted, and the rest of the market is less enthusiastic. That could change, but for the moment charging infrastructure has been slow to roll out, and converting American drivers (who like driving big vehicles long distances) to the new technology isn’t easy. Above all, even after the subsidies, EVs made in the US aren’t cheap. Hence the need for tariffs to make the competition more expensive.