Sen. Josh Hawley has introduced legislation to increase the tariffs on Chinese Electric Vechicles from the current 25 percent to 125 percent.
This would be the first time that congress has actually set tariff rates since the Tariff Act of 1930, co-sponsored by Sen. Reed Smoot and Rep. Willis Hawley.
Senator Hawley (R-Mo.)
introduced the
Protecting American Autoworkers from China Act, new legislation raising tariffs on autos imported from China and closing the Mexican backdoor Chinese automakers use to evade U.S. trade laws.
“If Joe Biden wants to support American autoworkers, he should start by protecting them from the existential threat posed by China,” said Senator Hawley.
The Protecting American Autoworkers from China Act would:
- Increase the base tariff rate of auto imports from China to 100 percent, for a total tariff of 125 percent on all imported autos from China.
- Apply the higher tariffs to all imported autos manufactured by Chinese automakers, irrespective of where the car is manufactured.
- This means Chinese manufacturers cannot use other nations, such as Mexico, as a backdoor to avoid these new tariffs.
According to a new report released by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), existing tariffs have staved off an "an extinction-level event for the U.S. auto industry," but more trade restrictions are needed.
Policy recommendations include:
- Impose exclusionary tariffs on all Chinese automobile imports to the U.S.; enact the Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0; reinstate Section 421; and improve the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis System
- Fully enforce and tighten the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement rules of origin for all automobile content in the 2026 joint review
- Comprehensively implement and enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act with additional emphasis on metals, automotive parts, and battery content and raw materials utilized in EVs
- Strictly enforce the Clean Vehicle Tax Credits authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act and other domestic content preferences for automobile content and related transit
South of the Border...
Reuters reports that Chinese automaker BYD is scouting locations in Mexico for a factory with production capacity of 150,000 cars annually. BYD Americas CEO Stella Li said BYD's Mexico ambitions are solely geared at local sales. "Our plan is to build the facility for the Mexican market, not for the export market," she said.
BYD's Dolphin Mini electric vehicle sells in Mexico for 358,800 pesos ($20,990), less than half the price of the cheapest Tesla
Read full bill text here.
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