Trump Is Obsessed With Oil. But Chinese Batteries Will Soon Run the World
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Chinese technology companies are paving the way for a world that will be powered by electric motors rather than gas-guzzling engines. It is a decisively 21st-century approach not just to solve its own energy problems, but also to sell batteries and other electric products to everyone else. Canada is its newest buyer of EVs; in a rebuke of Mr. Trump, its prime minister, Mark Carney, lowered tariffs on the cars as part of a new trade deal.
Though Americans have been slow to embrace electric vehicles, Chinese households have learned to love them. In 2025, 54 percent of new cars sold in China were either battery-powered or plug-in hybrids. That is a big reason that the country’s oil consumption is on track to peak in 2027, according to forecasts from the International Energy Agency. And Chinese E.V makers are setting records — whether it’s BYD’s sales (besting Tesla by battery-powered vehicles sold for the first time last year) or Xiaomi’s speed (its cars are setting records at major racetracks like Nürburgring in Germany).
I’d sooner buy a Chinese EV than a Tesla, but the orange gameshow host running my country says I can’t.
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I’d sooner buy a Chinese EV than a Tesla, but the orange gameshow host running my country says I can’t.
Because Biden said you could? He's the one that doubled tariffs on Chinese EVs from 50% to 100%. Biden also gave the EV tax credit which was essentially a subsidy to Tesla, which Trump ended.
Note that I'm not defending Trump, but simply noting that the US was heading in his direction. He's a symptom of advanced disease, but you don't get to blame him all the shitty things all US presidents ever did. He's a raging tumor, but the cancer was spreading already.
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Because Biden said you could? He's the one that doubled tariffs on Chinese EVs from 50% to 100%. Biden also gave the EV tax credit which was essentially a subsidy to Tesla, which Trump ended.
Note that I'm not defending Trump, but simply noting that the US was heading in his direction. He's a symptom of advanced disease, but you don't get to blame him all the shitty things all US presidents ever did. He's a raging tumor, but the cancer was spreading already.
You're absolutely right. Trump is a lightning rod for rage, but most of what the US is doing is bipartisan. It's a huge problem that so many people harbor false hope for the controlled opposition.
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You're absolutely right. Trump is a lightning rod for rage, but most of what the US is doing is bipartisan. It's a huge problem that so many people harbor false hope for the controlled opposition.
People downvoting facts simply because they contradict their own stated position tells so much. They want cheap Chinese EVs but can't accept that what they defended as protecting American companies (Biden's tariffs) and making EVs more affordable for Americans (Biden's EV tax credit) are the reasons they can't have cheap Chinese EVs.
Instead of reflecting on the progranda they've been consuming, they downvote and move on to repeat the same nonsense later. I'm relieved they didn't call me a tankie Russian bot this time for suggesting Biden wasn't an angel.
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Chinese technology companies are paving the way for a world that will be powered by electric motors rather than gas-guzzling engines. It is a decisively 21st-century approach not just to solve its own energy problems, but also to sell batteries and other electric products to everyone else. Canada is its newest buyer of EVs; in a rebuke of Mr. Trump, its prime minister, Mark Carney, lowered tariffs on the cars as part of a new trade deal.
Though Americans have been slow to embrace electric vehicles, Chinese households have learned to love them. In 2025, 54 percent of new cars sold in China were either battery-powered or plug-in hybrids. That is a big reason that the country’s oil consumption is on track to peak in 2027, according to forecasts from the International Energy Agency. And Chinese E.V makers are setting records — whether it’s BYD’s sales (besting Tesla by battery-powered vehicles sold for the first time last year) or Xiaomi’s speed (its cars are setting records at major racetracks like Nürburgring in Germany).
Yes, China has very purposefully put itself at the forefront of the first technological revolution of the 21st century and done this at multiple levels (solar panel production, battery tech, EVs)
Meanwhile the American elites have decided that 19th century technology is were they want to be. Well, that and dead ending killing the country's lead in the Tech revolution by going down a branch with no future in the form of LLMs and making everybody lose trust in keeping their data in anything owned by American companies.
And, of course, the crooked politicians here in Europe are actually following America more than China in this.
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Yes, China has very purposefully put itself at the forefront of the first technological revolution of the 21st century and done this at multiple levels (solar panel production, battery tech, EVs)
Meanwhile the American elites have decided that 19th century technology is were they want to be. Well, that and dead ending killing the country's lead in the Tech revolution by going down a branch with no future in the form of LLMs and making everybody lose trust in keeping their data in anything owned by American companies.
And, of course, the crooked politicians here in Europe are actually following America more than China in this.
It is a lot more complex than "Europe is actually following America more than China in this".
Europe have very limited lithium deposits compared to China. Europe is trying to be as self sustaining as possible, especially now that the US have shown themselves to be a highly unreliable partner.
So exchanging one dependency for another is a poor lateral move at best.
You can't just start digging up the entire ground and make car batteries out of all lithium you find.
European universities all over are researching alternative battery technology that doesn't rely as much on lithium.
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People downvoting facts simply because they contradict their own stated position tells so much. They want cheap Chinese EVs but can't accept that what they defended as protecting American companies (Biden's tariffs) and making EVs more affordable for Americans (Biden's EV tax credit) are the reasons they can't have cheap Chinese EVs.
Instead of reflecting on the progranda they've been consuming, they downvote and move on to repeat the same nonsense later. I'm relieved they didn't call me a tankie Russian bot this time for suggesting Biden wasn't an angel.
JFC...are people this dumb? The first taste is free buddy, these TEMU EVs are being sold below cost just to attack US industry. BYD has a $38B debt propped up by the Chinese government.
You geniuses forgot about the Biden investment in US battery plants.
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It is a lot more complex than "Europe is actually following America more than China in this".
Europe have very limited lithium deposits compared to China. Europe is trying to be as self sustaining as possible, especially now that the US have shown themselves to be a highly unreliable partner.
So exchanging one dependency for another is a poor lateral move at best.
You can't just start digging up the entire ground and make car batteries out of all lithium you find.
European universities all over are researching alternative battery technology that doesn't rely as much on lithium.
Yeah, well, there's no Oil in Europe either, so ICE cars are even worse for a self-sustaining Europe (at least Lithum is only consumed once for an EV car, whilst Oil is consumed all the time for ICE cars)
If Europe can constantly source Oil from abroad to keep ICE cars going, I'm sure it can also source (a far lower quantity of) Lithium from abroad to make cars that can then run on electric power produced right here in Europe.
Your entire "argument" is one big cherry picked excuse.
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JFC...are people this dumb? The first taste is free buddy, these TEMU EVs are being sold below cost just to attack US industry. BYD has a $38B debt propped up by the Chinese government.
You geniuses forgot about the Biden investment in US battery plants.
I just read an article stating that Ford lost 36k on every EV they sold in 2023... In a market where they had government protection from Chinese EVs.
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Yeah, well, there's no Oil in Europe either, so ICE cars are even worse for a self-sustaining Europe (at least Lithum is only consumed once for an EV car, whilst Oil is consumed all the time for ICE cars)
If Europe can constantly source Oil from abroad to keep ICE cars going, I'm sure it can also source (a far lower quantity of) Lithium from abroad to make cars that can then run on electric power produced right here in Europe.
Your entire "argument" is one big cherry picked excuse.
Yeah, well, there’s no Oil in Europe either,
C'mon. I'm a dumb American, but even I know without looking it up about Norway's vast petroleum production as well as the North Sea petroleum platforms off the coast of Scotland.
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Because Biden said you could? He's the one that doubled tariffs on Chinese EVs from 50% to 100%. Biden also gave the EV tax credit which was essentially a subsidy to Tesla, which Trump ended.
Note that I'm not defending Trump, but simply noting that the US was heading in his direction. He's a symptom of advanced disease, but you don't get to blame him all the shitty things all US presidents ever did. He's a raging tumor, but the cancer was spreading already.
Because Biden said you could? He’s the one that doubled tariffs on Chinese EVs from 50% to 100%. Biden also gave the EV tax credit which was essentially a subsidy to Tesla, which Trump ended.
I don't fault Biden for adding a tariff on Chinese EVs to temporarily protect the American auto manufacturing envornment. We just have too many jobs tied to the domestic production of cars. The immediate loss of those jobs would plunge the USA into deep recession. It looked like this was working too with many American companies adapting and coming out with EVs.
However, most of those American EVs have been scaled back or canceled. Further, with the exception of the Chevy Bolt no domestic maker produced an affordable EV. Since American companies decided they don't want to play in EVs anymore, I fully support removing the tariff and letting Chinese EVs into the USA. It looks like that will be the only thing that will force American car companies to compete. This situation closely mirrors the 1970s where Japan introduced small, reliable, fuel efficent cars, and affordable cars at a time when gasoline was crazy expensive.
It looks like this time around it will be the Chinese that teach the American auto market to adapt instead.
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I just read an article stating that Ford lost 36k on every EV they sold in 2023... In a market where they had government protection from Chinese EVs.
I just read an article stating that Ford lost 36k on every EV they sold in 2023…
Ford, and other American auto makers, were asleep at the wheel when EVs were starting to take off. Ford and GM doubled down on selling pickups and big SUVs which had good margins. Instead of investing in R&D to make a solid product they were caught unprepared and had to throw everything at the wall to see what stuck with their first EVs. Yes, they were able to bring them to market fairly quickly (good), but at the cost of efficient of the product and the production method.
This means for every EV they make, they do it expensively where they wouldn't need to if they improved their designs and production methods.
