> I comment about the nature of 'free markets' in the general (and especially in the context of US-EU), and someone inevitably jumps in with an off-topic gripe about China.
We are talking about the US sanctioning Chinese battery supply chains specifically, to quote TFA:
> The rules are aimed at weaning the United States off dependence on China for EV battery supply chains and are part of President Joe Biden's effort to make 50% of U.S. new vehicle sales by 2030 EVs or PHEVs.
>
The law, enacted in August, required vehicles to be assembled in North America to qualify for any tax credits, eliminating nearly 70% of eligible models at the time. On Jan. 1, new price caps and limits on buyers income took effect.
> The IRA requires that 50% of the value of battery components be produced or assembled in North America to qualify for $3,750, and that 40% of the value of critical minerals be sourced from the United States or a free trade partner for a $3,750 credit.
The battery sourcing requirement means that 'China' is only relevant to a small portion of this question, but makes for a great distraction.
Indeed. I didn't notice this on the first read of the article because I didn't notice the "Show more" button - seriously, WTF is this crap news sites tend to pull? I get it on content container / teaser pages, but an article page?!
In any case: nothing stops foreign car makers from coming back to Detroit or whatever and producing cars there. BMW at least has a decent presence in Spartanburg, not sure about the others - but Tesla has shown that this model can work, their first plant in Fremont was a retooled GM/Toyota plant.
We are talking about the US sanctioning Chinese battery supply chains specifically, to quote TFA:
> The rules are aimed at weaning the United States off dependence on China for EV battery supply chains and are part of President Joe Biden's effort to make 50% of U.S. new vehicle sales by 2030 EVs or PHEVs.