Yellen says US aims to ensure domestic EV maker success as China boosts exports
By David Lawder
ELIZABETHTOWN, Kentucky (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday said President Joe Biden's administration is taking steps to ensure success of the domestic electric vehicle (EV) industry in the face of China's growing exports in the sector and heavy government subsidies.
Asked whether the United States needs new tariffs on Chinese EVs, Yellen told reporters at a new battery materials plant in Kentucky: «I don't want to get ahead of where we are, but it is a commitment that President Biden has made… that we're going to want our domestic industry to be successful.»
As Chinese demand flags at home amid economic turmoil, its growing exports of EVs to global markets have raised alarm bells in Washington over the potential to inflict harm on U.S. automakers, just as its excess capacity in steel and aluminum decimated U.S. metals producers in past decades.
Current U.S. tariffs of 25% on all Chinese vehicles imposed by former President Donald Trump effectively keeps Chinese EVs out of the U.S. market for now. But China's largest producer, BYD (SZ:002594), has started to export to Mexico and is scouting locations for a Mexican factory.
Some U.S. senators have urged the Biden administration to increase tariffs on Chinese EVs further.
The U.S. Commerce Department has opened a probe into whether Chinese vehicle imports pose national security risks because of the data they transmit, an effort that could lead to additional restrictions on both EVs and conventional cars and trucks.
Another avenue for higher U.S. trade restrictions on Chinese EVs would be a long-running review of the Trump tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports being conducted by the U.S. Trade
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