Why the world of US cars buffers Biden
The main manufacturers in the United States warn Biden: "The 2035 target is in doubt due to the coldness of consumers towards electric cars." The president is trying to regain the favor of the US automotive world with an investigation into the cars on tap made in China
For decades the world of US cars has had only one bugaboo: the Japanese car. American cars, as we know, do not shine in terms of resistance and technical ability. It is enough to see what was until recently the best-selling brand in the States (today in second place anyway) to realize that in rural America, when it comes to choosing a robust and reliable pick up, the cowboys put aside love of country and choose Toyota. Nowadays the world of US cars has a new nightmare, which still comes from the other side of the Pacific but no longer from Japan: they are Chinese electric cars.
It cannot be said that the current occupant of the White House has not done everything to facilitate the American industry in the race towards electric cars by launching, with the regulatory corpus of the Inflation Reduction Act, a series of unprecedented protectionist measures, which have pissed off the US's main trading partners, from Europe to Japan.
THE US AUTO WORLD FEARS THE ELECTRIC CAR
The problem, however, is that the US automotive world, despite the subsidies, is too far behind the Chinese one. And so, in the midst of the November presidential election campaign, the main manufacturers in the United States, represented by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation , took pen and paper and wrote to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to say that the 2035 constraint is substantially impracticable because, in addition to the difficulties encountered by the US automotive world, "it is not clear to what extent consumers are willing to accept electric car technology, and whether they will purchase them in sufficient quantities". “This – is underlined by US manufacturers – is a problem over which the manufacturers have no control”.
WILL THE PRESIDENTIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS BE PLAYED ON AN ELECTRIC CAR?
In Italy we would say to tell a daughter-in-law so that the mother-in-law understands : the letter addressed to the EPA has in fact a completely different recipient, namely Joe Biden. Everyone remembers the Trump administration's push back on Obama's Green New Deal. If today the USA finds itself chasing the Chinese electric car, indeed, it can be said that the main culprit was The Donald, who stopped every incentive for the ecological transition. The fact remains that Donald Trump's gallop in the Republican primaries is undeniable and Biden cannot afford to get to the competition without having the world of US cars on his side, especially after the billions spent with the IRA.
US INVESTIGATION INTO CHINESE ELECTRIC CARS
An initial response was not long in coming. The Biden administration has in fact made it known that it has entrusted the Department of Commerce with the task of verifying whether imports of vehicles from China, particularly those with connectivity technologies, represent a risk to national security.
Just in the last few days in Start Magazine the all-Chinese security constraints for Tesla have been mentioned , whose EV cars have intelligent cameras viewed with suspicion by Beijing and we wondered if the USA would respond in a similar way, now that the first Chinese cars are arriving in the States.
WHAT JOE BIDEN SAID ABOUT CARS MADE IN CHINA
“Nowadays – explained Joe Biden -, most cars are 'connected', they are like smartphones on wheels. These cars are connected to our phones, navigation systems, critical infrastructure, and the companies that made them. Connected vehicles from China could collect sensitive data about our citizens and infrastructure and send it to the People's Republic of China. These vehicles could be accessed or disabled remotely."
But the security problem seems specious. This can be understood from the rest of Biden's speech: “China is determined to dominate the future of the automotive market, including by using unfair practices. With his policies, the Chinese could flood our market with their vehicles, putting our national security at risk. I will not let this happen during my term." In short, more than the risk of espionage, the USA fears that Beijing's cars will ruin their automotive industry.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/mondo-auto-usa-critiche-biden/ on Fri, 01 Mar 2024 10:12:49 +0000.