Banning Chinese Cars Is Dangerous And Self-Defeating

Banning Chinese Cars Is Dangerous And Self-Defeating

Significantly, the administration is justifying the rule on national security grounds. As Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, “Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies connected to the internet. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of U.S. citizens.”

Meanwhile:

Mozilla: Modern Cars Are A Privacy Shitshow

All 25 car brands we researched earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label — making cars the official worst category of products for privacy that we have ever reviewed.

Trump and Biden, Republicans and Democrats all agree: affordable Chinese cars should be banned

Trump and Biden, Republicans and Democrats all agree: affordable Chinese cars should be banned

Related:

Trump’s attacks on Chinese cars strike a chord — with both parties

“Ohio knows all too well how China illegally subsidizes its companies, putting our workers out of jobs and undermining entire industries from steel to solar manufacturing,” Brown said in a statement. “We can’t wait for China to run this same playbook in the auto industry — we need strong rules, including but not limited to tariffs, to stop a flood of Chinese electric vehicles that threaten Ohio auto jobs.”

He said the average price gap between a Chinese vehicle and its U.S.-made counterpart ranges from 44 percent to 179 percent. “That is a massive gap,” the executive said. “Tariffs alone aren’t going to take care of that.”

Reuters: Mexico yields to US pressure on incentives for Chinese car makers

He said that such incentives have declined during the government led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took office in late 2018, although they have been offered to large investors such as Audi.

Hypocrisy, Thy Name is the United States:

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Senate Approves AMLO’s Request for US Military Personnel in Mexico

This past Wednesday, December 13, the Senate approved the request from president Andrés Manuel López Obrador for the presence of US military personnel in Mexican territory.

Senate Approves AMLO’s Request for US Military Personnel in Mexico

Related:

President AMLO invites US special forces to train troops in Mexico

The request to the Mexican Senate for the entry of 11 armed US personnel to participate in the exercise “Strengthen the capabilities of the Special Forces of the Ministry of National Defense” was signed by López Obrador less than a week after he met with US President Joe Biden in San Francisco on November 17.

Mexico Pressured to Filter Immigrants to US: The Situation South of the Border

Miguel speaks about Mexico’s growing role as a filter of South American immigration for the United States, and how unfair it is for Mexico’s limited resources to be pressured into that role, especially since they also suffer from the neoliberal policies that cause immigration in the first place.

“Mexico has been told to use its military against the Latin American siblings that have also endured the imperialist and neoliberal impositions which have produced the economic and political crisis that most of the South is currently suffering- undoubtedly the primary reason that these waves of migrants are traveling north.” – Miguel Robles-Durán

This is a clip from S03 E02 of Cities After… Neo-Imperialism & Neo-Fascism at the Border via Democracy At Work

Mexico Pressured to Filter Immigrants to US: The Situation South of the Border

Policies Matter: Volkswagen, Mercedes, & Hyundai React To Inflation Reduction Act

Policies Matter: Volkswagen, Mercedes, & Hyundai React To Inflation Reduction Act

In June, Johan DeNysschen, the COO of Volkswagen of America, told Bloomberg his company is considering the construction of a battery manufacturing facility in North America. That would satisfy the requirement in the Inflation Reduction Act that batteries are manufactured in the US or other countries that are approved trading partners. According to the current North American free trade agreement, American trade officials consider anything made in Canada or Mexico to be domestically produced.

But manufacturing is one thing, The IRA goes further and requires the materials used to manufacture products also be sourced from approved trading partners. Canada is certainly one of them.

Then the roof fell in. The IRA only applies to vehicles built in the US, and that Georgia factory was not scheduled to be up and running until 2025. Two weeks ago, Hyundai and Kia vehicles imported from South Korea were eligible for the federal EV tax credit of up to $7,500. After the IRA was signed into law, they are eligible for nothing. The South Korean government is considering bringing the matter to the World Trade Council, but according to Reuters, Hyundai will now speed up construction of its new Georgia factory.

In the final analysis, that may be a good thing for America. Globalization left many countries like the US vulnerable to the machinations of crooks, thieves, and lunatics. The cheapest solution is often not the best solution.

Interesting that South Korea isn’t an “approved trading partner”. Then again, they’re not part of the USMCA. I suppose this is good for bringing some jobs to America.