President Biden is Handing China the Keys to America's Auto Industry

President Biden and Democrats are forcing Americans to transition to electric vehicles within the next decade while also imposing higher costs on the vehicles and fuels that a majority of Americans use every day. This radical agenda is making life unaffordable, limiting people’s transportation choices, and handing China the keys to America’s auto industry.

As Chair Rodgers said, we cannot follow China's lead:

[EPA] proposes that two-thirds of the cars, nearly 70 percent of the cars by 2032 must be 100 percent battery electric, not hybrids, not plug-in hybrids, not hydrogen, not any other technology. 100 perent battery electric. That’s China’s goal, that’s China’s agenda. Since when is the United States of America following China’s lead?

I have heard from many of my colleagues, I’ve heard from the Secretary of Energy that we need to be following China’s lead. I don’t agree. I don’t agree for a moment. And this proposed rule is an affront to representative government. It’s an affront to the elected representatives of the people, and it’s an affront actually to every American.

WHY IT MATTERS: China controls the vast majority of critical minerals mining, processing, and manufacturing for electric vehicles, and it will continue to do so through 2032.

BIG PICTURE: China’s stranglehold on these critical parts of the EV supply chain is giving it more and more control over the global market, while allowing Chinese manufacturers to offer increasingly competitive rates for their EVs. China’s rising dominance in the EV market was recently covered in depth by POLITICO:

The reputation of China’s carmakers has rapidly shifted, from being seen as making low-quality knock-offs to becoming a true rival for Western brands. Its domestic market dwarfs any other, selling 27 million cars last year, compared with 13.75 million cars and light trucks in the U.S. and 9.25 million cars in the E.U.

The country’s lead in electric vehicles is even more pronounced.

Last year, 5.4 million battery electric vehicles—two-thirds of the world total—were registered in China. It also controls some 76 percent of global battery cell production capacity and has a fierce grip on the raw materials used to make them. That offers the country’s carmakers a strategic advantage and the ability to build EVs at a cost-slashing scale.

[…]

Last quarter, for the first time in history, China surpassed Japan to become the world’s leading auto exporter, according to China's General Administration of Customs.

Look no further than Europe to see what the future holds if America continues down this path of government mandates and restrictions that cede our automotive leadership to China:

The E.U.’s 2035 clean car mandate—echoed in the U.K.—is the opening Chinese brands needed...Transport & Environment, a green nongovernmental organization, reckons that Chinese firms could grab 9 percent to 18 percent of the all-electric car market by 2025.

Germany’s national statistics office said in May that imports of China-made electric vehicles (from both domestic brands and Western carmakers like Volkswagen building in China) represented 28 percent of all its EV imports in this year’s first quarter. That’s three times higher than the same period in 2022.

China’s advantage is twofold. Its EV producers don’t carry European automakers’ legacy costs of transitioning away from combustion engines. And with its vast domestic market, China has cracked the code on inexpensive production of battery cells—the main cost of an EV.

CLICK HERE to read the full POLITICO story.

BOTTOM LINE: China announced earlier this month that they would be restricting exports to the U.S. of several minerals that are critical for EVs, a warning of how they plan to use their grip on EV technology against America. Democrats and the Biden administration are playing right into China’s hands with top-down government mandates that force an EV transition. These will further strengthen China’s foothold in the American auto industry and could lead to vehicles from China being one of the only affordable options left for Americans by 2035.

We should be working to ensure the U.S. is leading the auto sector for the next 100 years.

E&C REPUBLICAN SOLUTIONS: Energy and Commerce Republicans have solutions to increase—not limit—people's choices and access to affordable transportation options and ensure America, not China, is leading by:

DON’T MISS: On June 22, the Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials held a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to open America’s doors to China by requiring the U.S. to be fully electric by 2032. WATCH HERE.