‘Bloodbath’ tirade

Trump’s ‘bloodbath’ tirade contained a warning on Chinese cars. Here are the facts.

Cheap electric vehicles from China aren’t for sale in the U.S., but Trump isn’t the only one worried about them.

By KATHRYN A. WOLFE

Former President Donald Trump’s warnings of a “bloodbath” if he loses the November election included a broadside against the Biden administration’s electric vehicle policies — and the threat that inexpensive Chinese cars could wipe out the U.S. auto industry.

Trump’s remarks last weekend were his latest attempt to make inroads with unionized workers in pivotal Rust Belt states who are uneasy about President Joe Biden’s support for battery-powered cars and trucks. To the Biden campaign, Trump’s choice of words was yet another example of the ex-president’s embrace of “political violence” — alongside his past rhetoric on Charlottesville, the Proud Boys and Jan. 6.

But what are the facts behind Trump’s charge that Beijing is poised to flood the U.S. market with cheap cars and trucks — unless he’s in the White House to stop them?

What did Trump say?

“China now is building a couple of massive plants where they’re going to build the cars in Mexico, and they think they’re going to sell those cars into the United States — no,” Trump said Saturday during a rally near Dayton, Ohio. “We’re going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars — if I get elected.”

“Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it,” he continued, adding: “But they’re not going to sell those cars.”

Trump’s comments came during a portion of his speech blasting the leadership of the United Auto Workers union, whose leaders have endorsed Biden despite their own concerns about the shift to electric vehicles.

The UAW’s leaders “want to do this all-electric nonsense,” Trump said, before adding inaccurately: “They’re all made in China.” (In fact, companies like Tesla and Volkswagen make EVs in states such as California and Tennessee, and others are imported from countries like South Korea.)

Trump has been trying since last year to drive a wedge between unions’ leaders, who are overwhelmingly aligned with Biden, and their rank-and-file membership. A significant part of last year’s UAW strike against the Big Three U.S. automakers involved fears that unionized auto workers would be left out of the EV transition, especially considering that much of the production of critical parts such as batteries occurs in non-union plants.

Does China sell electric cars in the United States?

Not exactly. No Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer sells consumer-grade cars inside the U.S. under its own brand names.

The closest is Polestar, a Sweden-based electric car maker that is majority-owned by the Chinese company Geely and sells cars in the U.S. that were made in China. (Geely also owns the Volvo car brand.)

Another Chinese company, BYD, surpassed Tesla last year to become the world’s biggest maker of electric vehicles, but it does not sell passenger cars in the United States. It does sell commercial-trade electric trucks and buses inside the U.S., however.

But political leaders in both the U.S. and Europe have expressed fears that cheap Chinese electric vehicles could take over their markets. One reason for this is a big gap in price: In the United States, the average price of an EV was hovering around $53,000 as of July, while some Chinese EVs sell for as low as $11,000. Electric vehicle prices in the U.S. are continuing to drop, but the price gap remains tens of thousands of dollars.

However, a combination of Trump and Biden protectionist policies seeks to deter that from happening.

Any Chinese-made vehicles sold in the U.S. would face a stiff 27.5 percent tariff — including a 25-percent tariff imposed by the Trump administration that Biden has not sought to reverse. In addition, Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act offers consumers up to $7,500 in electric vehicle tax credits that apply only to cars made in North America — and last year, the administration added new conditions that disqualify vehicles whose suppliers have more than tangential ties to China.

What about China making cars in Mexico to skirt the rules?

Trump’s remarks about Mexico riff on the idea that a Chinese automaker could build a plant in Mexico and then seek to export vehicles to the U.S. to evade tariffs — taking advantage of the renegotiated North American free-trade pact that Trump signed four years ago.

That concern has a basis in truth: In February, BYD announced plans to build an electric vehicle plant in Mexico.

However, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement contains sourcing restrictions that could pose a difficult bar for BYD to meet. And BYD Americas CEO Stella Li has insisted that the plant in Mexico will be focused on local sales, telling Reuters that it is for “the Mexican market, not for the export market.”

Is anyone else calling for more tariffs on Chinese vehicles?

Yes. Bipartisan concern about protecting the U.S. auto sector from Chinese competition has been growing this year, and some lawmakers had called for increased tariffs even before Trump spoke.

In February, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) proposed a new 100 percent tariff on Chinese automobiles, in addition to the 27.5 percent already in effect. And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has written a trio of bills taking aim at Chinese EVs that would slap a flat $20,000 tariff on Chinese vehicle imports and seek to close import loopholes.

On March 7, Rust Belt Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan wrote the Commerce Department to ask that it “maintain or increase” existing tariffs on Chinese autos and examine the national security threat posed by high-tech, highly connected Chinese vehicles.

“Artificially low-priced Chinese EVs flooding the U.S. would cost thousands of American jobs and endanger the survival of the U.S. automotive industry as a whole,” the senators wrote.