To add to the national security angle: the auto industry is one of the industries that would be able to pivot to wartime production the fastest (as seen in the world wars). Probably not the first thing on everyone’s mind, but I’d bet it’s at least part of the consideration.
The environmental costs for shipping on a large container ship are, per unit, pretty low. China’s already got the process for making cheap EVs down cold; we are still building our industry up, and it’s slooooooooow. It’s also more environmentally expensive to be duplicating processes rather than making scaling an existing process.
OTOH, the ability to wage war effectively is a compelling national security interest.
Yes actually, if you understood economies of scale there’s a lot of reasons why planting your own garden in your backyard is worse than having industrial farms. Similarly, one country being able to control all the pollution would be far better than spreading it out and having little to no locust of control.
Sadly for the US is it small scale manufacturing. Which is kind of the problem. There’s been so much reduction in US manufacturing capability that they are essentially small scale. Other people have already pointed that out. What I will extend though is technically this is what the US is concerned about. The whole point that the US government is trying to make is that it’s a national security issue that the US only produces at such small scale. So not only is what the US saying is that they want to destroy the environment and spend billions to start to maybe create large scale manufacturing again. Is it worth it? I dunno, but that’s what’s being proposed. Kill the environment, stick with ICE vehicles so USA can still compete in large scale manufacturing. Thus, Biden is a hypocrite.
Oh I must have missed the press release where he announced much higher tariffs for all cars, including ICE ones, manufactured on the other side of the Pacific.
To add a bit more to the national security angle: with the potential to escalate into open warfare with China, due to tensions between Taiwan and China, we really don’t want millions of drivable computers sending harvested metadata about our road systems and behavior patterns directly to enemy leadership.
To add to the national security angle: the auto industry is one of the industries that would be able to pivot to wartime production the fastest (as seen in the world wars). Probably not the first thing on everyone’s mind, but I’d bet it’s at least part of the consideration.
Killing the planet so you can be ready for war.
God bless America.
What? Burning bunker oil to ship Chinese made cars across the ocean is better for the planet than manufacturing them domestically?
Well. Yes, probably.
The environmental costs for shipping on a large container ship are, per unit, pretty low. China’s already got the process for making cheap EVs down cold; we are still building our industry up, and it’s slooooooooow. It’s also more environmentally expensive to be duplicating processes rather than making scaling an existing process.
OTOH, the ability to wage war effectively is a compelling national security interest.
Yes actually, if you understood economies of scale there’s a lot of reasons why planting your own garden in your backyard is worse than having industrial farms. Similarly, one country being able to control all the pollution would be far better than spreading it out and having little to no locust of control.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23132579/eat-local-csa-farmers-markets-locavore-slow-food
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinero/2023/01/27/eat-local-if-you-want-but-not-for-climate-reasons/?sh=1bf904c65215
For some articles about farming. Now obviously, there are situations where you can make local manufacturing better, but that comes at a high cost.
Either way, the point is, your initial assumption is wrong and I hope you learned something.
We aren’t talking about small scale manufacturing vs large scale. It’s large scale either way. Your analogy doesn’t work.
Sadly for the US is it small scale manufacturing. Which is kind of the problem. There’s been so much reduction in US manufacturing capability that they are essentially small scale. Other people have already pointed that out. What I will extend though is technically this is what the US is concerned about. The whole point that the US government is trying to make is that it’s a national security issue that the US only produces at such small scale. So not only is what the US saying is that they want to destroy the environment and spend billions to start to maybe create large scale manufacturing again. Is it worth it? I dunno, but that’s what’s being proposed. Kill the environment, stick with ICE vehicles so USA can still compete in large scale manufacturing. Thus, Biden is a hypocrite.
Oh I must have missed the press release where he announced much higher tariffs for all cars, including ICE ones, manufactured on the other side of the Pacific.
Not to mention that China is pretty big into the “prepare for war” game too.
To add a bit more to the national security angle: with the potential to escalate into open warfare with China, due to tensions between Taiwan and China, we really don’t want millions of drivable computers sending harvested metadata about our road systems and behavior patterns directly to enemy leadership.