this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2026
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All the tariff enjoyers completely forget that there's a market outside of the US and Europe. And the Chinese have that sown up already. Making the domestic industries less competitive through tariffs is just foolish.
I'm against blanket tariffs, but there is a lot of evidence that China is pumping money into their EV market so they can dominate. Additionally, part of the recent surge in Chinese EVs is that the companies have oversaturated the local market and are over leveraged, meaning they need somewhere to dump their cars. Without tariffs, you let another country destroy your local market (in a potentially unsustainable manner).
And the western countries don't massively subsidise their automotive industries? The difference is that the subsidies in China are actually a product of a consistent industrial policy rather than just shoving public money into the coffers of the rich.
Yeah, and China also has a lot of policies about who can operate in their country and who can sell what.
Not at the level of BYD, the Chinese government has let them slide $4B into the hole.
"BYD’s net profit fell by nearly one-third in the first three quarters of 2025, while its debt burden surged several-fold."
"Although BYD still ranked first in China’s new-energy vehicle market with retail sales of 307,000 units in November 2025, year-on-year sales dropped sharply by 26.5 percent."
Why - because once the idiots initially buy these cars, reality hits with quality problems and recalls.
"As the saying goes, consumers “vote with their feet.” With mounting quality complaints and an increasingly challenging economic environment, BYD has begun facing inventory buildup and slowing sales."
https://www.visiontimes.com/2025/12/16/byd-faces-mounting-inventory-and-surging-debt-as-quality-complaints-flood-the-internet.html
Nope. It's because BYD was getting ready for 2026. While other companies are worried about sales BYD's concern was prep work. Keep an eye on Europe.
Oh no. My cheap economic car isn't as reliable as a Toyota but still isnt suffering reliable issues of a $60k+ domestic.
You're saying "a lot of evidence" like it's some esoteric choice. It's in their most recent 5 year plan:
That's their goal, and they have a poorer population on average than western states, so it'd seem like "dumping" when it's just them not marking up their cars for the west.
They are literally dumping cars in Australia.
Seems like this is more of a case of the owner not going through legal means before investing in these cars and or using their space as storage, because it's not like these just appeared on the owner land without their approval.
Wait, tariffs do a lot of dumb things, but they specifically do not reduce domestic company value (at least directly)... They're basically always an import tax, not an export tax, nor do the (directly) increase prices domestically.
... Not to defend them as a valid strategy, as trade wars are for loser morons and usually just hurt everyone involved.
They let you survive domestically without being competitive, which means you suffer in other countries
I'm talking specifically about tariffs on EVs which have been imposed by the US and the EU. These lead to the auto industries in those countries delaying the shift to EVs, which will massively hurt them in the global market in the longer term.
Yea, tariffs on importing otherwise legally compliant vehicles is helping noone except the domestic EV makers (in theory).
At least, if you're the kind of person to think pirating is a lost sale... Same goes for cheaper goods, IMO. Just because someone would buy a cheaper option should never imply they'd be willing or able to buy a more expensive domestic option.
Although somewhere as car-centric as the US they're going to be driving something, and I think the actual goal is to keep them locked into some sort of gas car as long as possible.
But then why Europe, too? Does Russia have more politicians in their pocket than people want to admit? I have no idea why they'd want to stay remotely coupled to petrol unless they want to have to continue to buy some from Russia.
I don't think it's politicians driving that decision, I think it's the money from Petro companies and car companies that are heavily invested and dominant in the gas car industry
Sounds like Europe still has some lobbyists to get rid of, then...