On one hand allowing obviously superior and cheaper Chinese EVs into the states at MSRP would obliterate the automakers which are one of the last bastions of organized labor. On the other hand getting cheap EVs into people's hands is the outer limit of viable climate change action in this treat demon settler country.
EVs aren't a viable way to address climate change; overall primary energy use needs to decrease and EVs are still a very, very energy-intensive form of transportation. Organized labor will be a necessary component of any attempt to address climate change beyond offering people better treats.
It is however ridiculous because the dems have created a system where only affluent people can afford EVs; they'll pat them on the back and assure them they did their part to save the planet. Now if only the poors trundling along in their aged gasmobiles could get their shit together.
It sucks. There's a solar panel tariff coming too.
It'd be one thing if we could actually build anything in this dumb country, then maybe it could be justified. Or if these were even nationalized enterprises where we could guarantee fair wages and that the money actually gets spent on the desired objective. But any state subsidies here just immediately get hoovered up by capitalists.
We don't have the brains, or the facilities, plain and simple. Our failed education system has churned out a population of proudly ignorant buffoons.