> Yet Tesla still needs 100% tariffs on BYD vehicles to compete?!
Why does Canada also have 100% tariff? Why do you think the tariffs are only for Tesla? Again, all US car companies have a fairly ludicrous government mandate [1] for EV production:
> In April, the EPA finalized its “Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles for MY 2027 and Later” rule that could effectively call for 44% of new vehicles in 2030 and 56% of new vehicles sold in 2032 to be EVs. This rule greatly exceeds the current real-world consumer demand for EVs. Also, the rule projects that gas-powered vehicles (including hybrids and plug-in hybrids), now currently 92.9% of the market, could be reduced to 29% by 2032.
Chevy, Ford, and Toyota lose billions [2][3][4] per year making EV. They need this too. Tesla is the only US car company that profits from EV sales. Tesla, by every metric, needs it the least.
> necessitates 100% tariffs to protect US firms from competition
ICE cars are made of metal and plastic. There's a nice local and global market for these. BEV need lithium and cobalt. The US makes 2% of the lithium worldwide, with its single mine in a single location [5]. Lithium is 30-50% the final cost of a BEV. China makes 7%, but the Chinese companies have helped secure 80% of worldwide production [6]. Chinese companies owns 15 of 17 cobalt mines in DRC, where 80% of cobalt comes from [7]. The line between where a Chinese company ends and the CCP begins can be very very blurry. This is the result of very smart investment in China, and a big fuck-you to the environment and labor (making imports illegal [8]), like the good old days of the US.
> Meanwhile in the US we are bringing back steel mills and coal fire power plants!
China is responsible for 95% of new coal plant construction [9].
> giga-pressed luxury items
The giga pressing is to make them cheaper. Many car companies are looking at this for cost saving, including Toyota [10].
I agree with cars being too expensive. I've never looked into the breakdown for why. But, for the realm I work in, China is no longer much cheaper for labor. I suspect that's related.
[1] https://www.nada.org/legislative/epas-de-facto-electric-vehi...
[2] Ford loses over 4 billion with EV: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/28/ford-embraces-hybrids-as-it-...
[3] Chevy over 4 billion loses with EV: https://fortune.com/2024/04/24/gm-earnings-beat-gas-ev-elect...
[4] Toyota loses 4.7 billion with EV: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota....
[5] US only lithium mine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thacker_Pass_lithium_mine#:~:t....
[6] China lithium monopoly: https://orcasia.org/article/602/chinas-monopoly-over-lithium....
[7] China 80% rare earth, 15/17 coral mines in DRC: https://georgetownsecuritystudiesreview.org/2023/06/01/china...
[8] Battery import illegal forced labor: https://www.reuters.com/business/us-imports-auto-parts-face-...
[9] China 95% coal plant construction: https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-...
[10] Toyota giga casting: https://insideevs.com/news/671943/toyota-giga-casting/