Live data from Hacker News

Canada slashes 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6%

electrek.co

71–80 of 640 posts

Re: Canada slashes 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6%

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that the US auto industry is also very much a Canadian one. A lot of Big Three stuff happens across the border in Ontario. But all the policy support that would have let North American automakers build up a competitive position with China is gone, so this is more about just acknowledging reality now.

Yeah there was never any competing with china, our industry just relies on our market using different values to purchase a car. It’s tough to convince most price-inelastic people they shouldn’t buy a car that is 1/2 price, even if it has fewer features. Edit: to be clear I meant that the US did not compete, not that they could not compete

> Yeah thee was never any competing with china, our industry just relies on our market using different values to purchase a car.

This is patently false. The US could have competed with China if it had maintained investments spinning up battery manufacturing and downstream systems to build EVs at scale, while subsidizing EVs (fossil fuels are subsidized to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars per year [1]) and increasing taxes on combustion mobility. The US picked legacy automaker profits and fossil fuel interests instead, simply out of lack of will and short term optimization over long term success.

China is building under the same rules of physics as everyone else. You can choose not to, but that is a choice.

(I believe in climate change, so I am thrilled China is going to steamroll fossil fuel incumbents out of self interest [2] [3], regardless of negative second order effects; every 24 months of Chinese EV production destroys 1M barrels/day of global oil consumption at current production rates, as of this comment)

[1] https://www.imf.org/en/topics/climate-change/energy-subsidie...

[2] https://ember-energy.org/data/china-cleantech-exports-data-e...

[3] https://ourworldindata.org/electric-car-sales

Re: Canada slashes 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6%

#75
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a country with 42 million inhabitants this doesn't seem like a big change even for canada, let alone for the global economy.

Cars last ~25 years, 49,000 * 25 = 1.2 million Chinese EV’s on the road in a steady state. Not such as huge shift in total, but EV’s are still a small percentage of total vehicle sales in Canada.

~25 years isn't the average when you account for accidents, rust, and useful economic life of a car. We had 200+ car crashes due to weather in a single day this week in Waterloo, Ontario.

Re: Canada slashes 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6%

#77

[flagged]

> And it may sound paranoid but remember that China was caught operating their own "police" force around the world not long ago

Have you heard about ICE? That one's not a paranoid thought. It's a very real personal police designed for oppression. I'd much much rather chineses EVs flooding the market over Teslas.

Re: Canada slashes 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6%

#78
post #68

[flagged]

No different than American companies or European companies. With the US having Palantir in their pocket…

The accountability and scale are hugely different to the point I don’t see how anyone can make this argument in good faith.

Re: Canada slashes 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6%

#79

[flagged]

I have never before felt pressured about what I can or cannot protest about in Europe by China, but I can’t say the same about our most powerful ally, who has threatened every sector of our society – political or non-political – with consequences if we do not act and speak as they do. China absolutely does not care about our society the same way as that.

Re: Canada slashes 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6%

#80

[flagged]

You absolutely have a point, I just don't see how this is functionally different from western/US policy, especially from the perspective of e.g. BRIC nations:

We have ample evidence that US intelligence siphons data from literally every meaningful company it can tap, is willing to share that data with partners abroad and uses such things without even public sanction against targets picked by the president (see Venezuela).

Sure, the US is still the devil you know, but if Americans want to claim the moral high ground then at least credible pretending is required, and under the current administration we wont even get that.

Post reply on HN