History says tariffs rarely work, but Biden’s 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs could defy the trend, researcher says ( theconversation.com )

megopie , 1 month ago

Normally I’m not a big fan of protectionist tariffs since they often are just a way to allow uncompetitive domestic manufacture to stay afloat rather than adjusting to the market, it’s a different story when one state begins to intentionally price dump on the global market to push other countries manufacturers out of business.

A lot people are up in arms because they think cheap battery electric vehicles will help assist in the energy transition, and thus see this as a step back, but I’m a lot less bullish on BEVs than others are. I think they have a place but they’re not a panacea to decarbonization of transport, and often discussion of them seems to bury discussion of other arguably more important elements of transport decarbonization, such as rail transit or trams which we are way further behind on getting momentum behind than electric cars.