That’s precisely what US President Joe Biden did this week, with a new 100% tariff on Chinese EV imports.
The IEA still projects a sales rise in 2024, which would keep us more or less on track for net zero.
Optimists hope more people will buy EVs when cut-price second-hand vehicles come onto the market in Europe and America. But that clear road is not guaranteed.
It may be that EV prices in the West do prove sticky, while China keeps churning out super-cheap vehicles.
If that happens, expect that tension between the desire of Western governments to decarbonise transport and their desire to protect domestic manufacturing champions to grow even more acute.
At some stage they might be forced to choose.
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