Biden Plans To Quadruple Tariffs On Chinese Electric Vehicles

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Biden plans to quadruple tariffs from 25% to about 100% on Chinese Electric Vehicles and other green/clean energy products. wsj.com

When these tariffs are announced on Tuesday, they will largely uphold and expand on the rules previously put in place by the Trump administration. reuters.com

Bloomberg points out that the move is “mostly symbolic” since these vehicles aren’t sold in the US today. bloomberg.com

Because of the integrated nature of the USMCA (formerly NAFTA) automotive industry, it is unclear what this will mean for Canada. However, US and Canadian folk hoping to get their hands on cheaper Chinese-built electric vehicles are likely out of luck.

This move may be bad news for Tesla and Volvo, who already manufacture vehicles in China and sell them across North America. Both companies work around these tariff implications by assembling in the US to be eligible for tariff refunds. ctvnews.ca

Chinese global exports hit an all-time high in April. reuters.com

Meanwhile, in Europe, the Financial Times reported that Volkswagen is lobbying the EU not to raise tariffs or other trade restrictions against China for fear of trade retaliation. And France openly asked BYD to build EVs within their borders. ft.com, cbtnews.com

BYD for one, doesn’t give a fuck. Reiterates they do “not have plans to sell in the US.” The EV sales opportunities in the rest of the world are so significant that they don’t need ‘em. fortune.com

The Washington Post reported that Donald Trump held a dinner with roughly two dozen oil executives last month, seeking $1 billion for his campaign. In exchange for that cash, he will roll back all of Biden’s clean energy policies, including shutting down incentives for electric vehicles. washingtonpost.com

There may not be any good reason for them to pony up the bucks. Oil profits and production in the US have never been higher. ft.com

Although he might not bring it up often, U.S. oil production has hit an all-time high record under Biden. washingtonpost.com

At the same time, because of EV adoption, global gasoline demand is expected to drop this year. reuters.com

Nio readies for mass-market brand vehicle launch later in May. reuters.com

Nio signs up another battery-swapping partner. eletric-vehicles.com

Chinese domestic auto sales were down in April. wsj.com

Zeekr (from Geely) IPOs on the NYSE. reuters.com

Michael Dunne did a great bit on "When Every Car Is Made in China” in his newsletter. dunneinsights.com

Elon says he still plans to invest in the Supercharger network (but it’s unclear who will execute now that there’s no Supercharger network team). electrek.co

Hundreds protest expansion of Gigafactory Berlin, again. reuters.com

Tesla bought A LOT of LIDAR equipment from Luminar. Previously, Elon said LIDAR wasn’t required for self-driving. techcrunch.com

Elon is angry about the education system in the US. fortune.com

Tesla shuts down thousands of roles previously open in North America. Has three intern and part-time roles left open. businessinsider.com

Neuralink almost “recalled” the chip they put in a man’s head. businessinsider.com

Starlink has surprisingly high revenue. spacenews.com

A complete idiot breaks his finger in his Cybertruck trunk door. gizmodo.com

Solar storm impacts Starlink internet service (I didn’t notice any impact in Tobermory). reuters.com

Chinese robot factory really feels like the set of Westworld. newatlas.com

People are less impressed by Optimus’s latest demonstration video. qz.com

Lucid Bots makes a robot drone that will clean your outside windows and more. techcrunch.com

Cornell built a robot that can feed people with severe mobility disabilities. news.cornell.edu

MIT gets us one step closer to T100 shape-shifting terminator robots. news.mit.edu

An autonomous robot digger builds a retaining wall. electrek.co

Renewable energy now generates 30% of the world’s electricity supply, with solar being the largest contributor. theguardian.com, ember-climate.org

Vermont wants to charge oil companies for climate damage. theguardian.com

Stellantis has production lithium-sulfur batteries that are ready for testing. electrek.co

More “water battery” news. mining.com

Italy bans solar from agricultural land. pv-magazine.com

Maybe we can use sugar and an inexpensive, abundant metal to ‘eat’ carbon. scitechdaily.com

Maybe we don’t need batteries?! Researchers believe they’ve discovered a new material structure that can improve the energy storage of capacitors. popularmechanics.com

The world’s largest carbon capture plant goes online in in Hellisheiði, Iceland. theverge.com

Toyota sees record profits. canada.autonews.com

Ford learns that batteries are expensive. autonews.com

Ford also teases us with glimpses of the new Maverick. canada.autonews.com

GM shows how you can power your mansion with a Silverado. electrek.co

A douche-move by Hyundai, they plan to lock some in-car software features behind a paywall. motor1.com

Eli ZERO electric microcar plans to launch in the US. electrek.co

Canoo’s USPS vans spotted in the wild. electrek.co

Fisker’s break problems just don’t stop. autoblog.com

Magna expands in Michigan. canada.autonews.com

Amazon bought a bunch of electric semis from Volvo. theverge.com

Daimler Trucks expects to have autonomous trucks on the road by 2027. theverge.com

After outsourcing EV production to GM and Chinese manufacturers, Honda is considering building its own and becoming more vertically integrated. europe.autonews.com

Wayve raised a billion dollars to bring their self-driving tech to other OEMs. techcrunch.com

Bloom, a new Detroit-based startup, wants to reinvent the wheel… on e-bikes. techcrunch.com

Most EV batteries outlive the cars they power. theglobeandmail.com

Amazon wants your hockey-loving eyeballs to use Prime Video. cbc.ca

Why the iPad has no calculator. macworld.com

The Eurovision finals were yesterday. Listen to each country’s song entry. officialcharts.com

The Eurovision Livestream / post-show recording is available on YouTube. youtube.com

If you’re unfamiliar with Eurovision, I encourage you to watch the weird and wonderful Netflix comedy starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. wikipedia.org, netflix.com

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