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Canada slashes 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6%

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

#401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recent CATL independent battery testing has demonstrated 1.25 million mile longevity for battery modules produced. While EV uptake may take time, the EVs that are built will be with us for some time. That equates to 62 years of service life assuming ~20k miles/year

Propulsion is not the issue. Quality cars' engines last just fine for decades, if maintained. Cars in the north have major rust problems, even if you're exceptionally careful, from exposure to snow and road salt.

Plenty of 30+ year old cars in Candida show rust isn’t that much of an issue. It’s increasing maintenance costs per year that take most vehicles off the road.

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

#402

The Mercosur-EU trade deal, the India-EU trade deal and this China-Canada trade deal. A pattern perhaps? A frantic search for reliable trade partnerships, or just random noise?

Mercosur-EU trade deal was agreed 2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU%E2%80%93Mercosur_Associatio... India-EU have deepened ties since long ago too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93European_Union_r...

> Mercosur-EU trade deal was agreed 2019

Sure the details were negotiated in 2019, but it isn't even in effect yet. It still needs to be approved by legislative bodies on both sides of the Atlantic. Which will probably happen sometime this year.

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

#403
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's basically it. The Chinese government views the rest of the world through Hobbesian self interest, but in the late 20th century financial way. They want your money, but lawfully. The US has turned into something much more vindictive and unpredictable, including threatening to invade Canada.

Lawfully? How many IPs have they stolen from universities and companies across the world?

> How many IPs have they stolen from universities and companies across the world?

As it's often said, "There is no honor among thieves":

https://www.nber.org/digest/mar18/confiscation-german-copyri...

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

#404
post #8

Its only the first 50K that get 6%, still pretty interesting as being physically so close to the US could cause people in the US to get their first look at Chinese cars. Chinese car companies face far more ruthless competition than western ones so could end up making better cars as a result, imo. There are over 100 brands in china selling electric cars

Could? They are already much better for the price.

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

#405
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The expensive cars sell well in the us - customers are not that price inelastic. Those who are prefer a used car with all the high priced features of 5 years ago to a new car with no options

Agreed, that’s exactly what i did. But I wonder how much of that culture is because the new cheap Chinese cars aren’t here. If all you have in town is a target, that’s where people will shop. If you open up a goodwill there might be some handwringing and “I would never” rhetoric. But many people will go to the goodwill even if they don’t admit it.

Having previously owned a Chinese car (Great Wall H5, bought new), I'm on the fence about buying Chinese cars. Initially it was a great car -- lots of features and they used high quality OEM parts (e.g. a Mitsubishi engine). However, I found that it didn't hold up well* and was missing some of the touches that come from engineering not coming from a car culture. As one example, the tensioner for the accessory belt was a single 14mm bolt. Technically it worked, but it was not fun. Meanwhile, even my '85 Ford Escort had a half-inch square opening in the belt bracketry that accepted a half-inch socket driver/breaker bar for setting the tension. I don't think this is uniquely a Chinese problem, as I heard similar complaints from owners of early Nissan/Toyota full-size trucks. Toyota was able to eventually improve, but Nissan had to pack it in on the Titan.

*To roughly quantify, I'd say mid-to-late 80s Ford/GM car, not 70s Ford/GM car. It never stranded me, but it did break a few times in inconvenient fashion.

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

#406
PRC slashed tariffs on Canadian ag in reciprocation, which unlike Canada on PRC EVs is uncapped. Meanwhile EV cap only raises based on PRC auto investments and plenty of ways US can throw cold water on that. Either way, this more bargaining chip for Canada vs USMCA renegotiation next year. Like it would be nice to get chinese EVs, or even shoring some of their manufacturing in CA to keep auto sector going, but I wouldn't hold my breath on it being geopolitically sustainable. Imagine US flexes, PRC pulls out, and early adopters get screwed.

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

#407
post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a bubble in Calgary, and am from Montreal originally. Despite that, I saw lines of people waiting to sign petitions for separation in smaller cities. People who were happy to have their photos taken while they are signing petitions for separation from Canada. There are some cultural factors in Alberta which draw it closer to the US than to Ontario and Quebec. Libertarianism, pro-fossil fuels, differences wr…

The Forever Canadia https://www.forever-canadian.ca/ petition collected over 400,000 signatures from Alberta electors. Then Danielle moved the goalposts to make it easier for the Independence folks: Signature collection period: January 3 to May 2, 2026 Number of signatures required for a successful petition: 177,732 (10% of the total number votes cast in the 2023 Provincial General Election).

I signed that petition, just like I voted against Quebec's treason of 1995.

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

#408
post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a bubble in Calgary, and am from Montreal originally. Despite that, I saw lines of people waiting to sign petitions for separation in smaller cities. People who were happy to have their photos taken while they are signing petitions for separation from Canada. There are some cultural factors in Alberta which draw it closer to the US than to Ontario and Quebec. Libertarianism, pro-fossil fuels, differences wr…

separation != joining the US There is small but loud group of chronic whiners who hate everything (often including each other) pushing the former. Almost nobody is pushing the latter.

A separated Alberta would become a de facto Puerto Rico in thrall to the US without any votes.

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

#409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really into geopolitics, and it's clear to see what's happening from the US side. America still wants to play hegemon, but since Bretton Woods 2.0 didn't happen, they're going to lock up the entire North and South American continents from Chinese and Russian influence. And it'll be fierce. The next salvo is going to be US statehood for Alberta and Saskatchewan. There is already partisan support within those provi…

It's not bad analysis, I upvoted you, but what you're forgetting is that nothing ever happens. Venezuela was just typical American meddling, Cuba might happen (I'd bet against it) but neither the Canada nor Greenland thing is going to happen because it would be too dramatic for narrative continuity.

Our official delegation left the Greenland delegation IN TEARS, and we pronounced 'it's happening' afterwards. These aren't shit posters on Twitter, these are our officials and our President ACTIVELY working to take over Greenland.

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

#410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bad argument because you're assuming that the US needs to compete with China on EVs or that not competing results in somehow "losing". A car is a car, at the end of the day. Frankly, the best car is no car, but I'll leave that for some other discussion around transit. China has gone all-in on EVs because over the years they smartly built up the world's best rare earth refining capabilities and immense manuf…

> Meanwhile, the US can obviously produce good cars at a good enough price and with cheap oil for the foreseeable future it's hard to argue in favor of EVs as a national policy. What, we're going to switch to EVs? Who is going to build them? Tesla? We don't have access to the rare earth refining capabilities to meet demand. It's just physics. And if China is using less oil, that means more for the United States and o…

> This is false.

It's not false. See Honda, Toyota, &c. many models are made in the US by Americans even if they're Japanese companies.

> The US has chosen to produce expensive (average new vehicle price is $50k), fossil combustion vehicles to the detriment of its population.

The US industry regardless of reason isn't going to be able to make a cheap, high-quality EV because it doesn't have access to affordable refining capabilities due to various reasons. So the actual situation is, sure the US could let China ship in a bunch of awesome EVs, but then the US automakers will suffer and some will go out of business and then the US just won't be making cars and those union autoworker jobs will be gone. Some people are fine with that I guess, but strategically it doesn't make a lot of sense for the US to allow the domestic auto industry to be crushed. Same thing with Germany. The EU is already starting to roll back EV mandates [1] for the same reason the US is focusing back on oil and natural gas.

> Whatever it takes to get cheap EVs with the sharpest deployment trajectory possible, I am not particular, regardless of the harm it incurs on US automakers or the US itself

On the other hand, as an American voter and even an EV driver, I disagree with these actions. EVs at all cost isn't a goal that makes sense or that I'm interested in. A better argument is to just do away with cars entirely. EVs still create c02, require toxic processing of materials and components, and while they're better for the environment, they're not as good as walking or transit.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/eu-rel...

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