there's at least a glimmer of "its not a free market" when all those companies are only so cheap because they are MASSIVELY subsidized by the Chinese Government.
I dont agree with banning them, but the argument is there and legit at least a little.
That's exactly what almost every tech company has done. Uber, for example, used investor's cash to subsidize ride costs, then once they had a captured market cranked rates. AI companies are trying to do the same.
China is just using the same tactics our businesses have been using for years. The only difference is it's public investment instead of private. And frankly, I would rather our public dollars went to investing in/subsidizing solar, EVs, and the like than whatever it's used for rn
More importantly the Chinese auto companies innovate. BYD would still make money without government subsidies. BYD makes a profit off of their vehicles, but they also make a lot of money from licensing their patents. Where China really wins is investing in their education system and supporting industry through infrastructure. Watching videos of Chinese trade shows is very eye opening.
Thats still not even in the ballpark of 10% of what some of these Chinese companies have been given. We're talking over a trillion. Orders of magnitude different.
That's not what is happening here though. China is specifically subsidizing the cars because they are trying to push other countries out of manufacturing, the way they have on other manufactured products, because then they can raise the price and the barrier to re-entry will be too expensive for competitors to get back into the market and they will have a monopoly.
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u/ring2ding 9h ago
Chinese EV's are insanely cheap. Our Government won't let them sell here though.