In principle, it is baffling. Whatever is true about China’s state-subsidized EV production, one might see it as helping European car drivers to transition to using electric cars... with Chinese tax money. Now EU car makers will use the higher import tariffs on Chinese EVs to sit back and relax. Amercan car makers no longer have any incentive at all to produce electric cars, especially when Trump will be back in TWH. That said, I do think that China can’t expect business and trade as usual because of its support of Russia’s invasion in the Ukraine (althought it says it doesn’t) in exchange for cheap Russian energy… with which it manufactures its EVs price-competitively. I hear the new import tariffs will go as high as 38%. Compromise at 15–20%, and the Chinese can’t and the German shouldn’t complain.