Anonymous wrote:They make very good cars for the price. I'm so sick and tired of Americans telling everyone they're the champions of capitalism and free markets when they ban all of our ability to be able to buy BYD. Newsflash: BYD has gotten far less subsidies from the Chinese govt compared to the billions of dollars DOGE stooge Elon has gotten from the US govt. Why is it BYD and China's fault they out competed all US automakers in EV investment, tech, manufacturing and development. BYD is winning the game fair and square according to capitalism that Americans push, so let us buy superior products for cheaper prices compared to junk like Tesla. Americans would fall head over heels for BYD cars. If you've traveled at all over the last 10 years, you'd see just how irrelevant America automakers have become in many parts of the world. BYD has owned them because they're far better competitors.
So I am all for letting BYD sell cars in the U.S. because I think competition is good, but I am skeptical about your comment that "BYD has gotten far less subsidies from the Chinese govt ...." The Chinese govt have been pushing EVs for 10-15 years and have been pouring money into the entire sector and thus BYD gets the benefit from subsidies and the benefits from a growing sector (e.g., better supplier base for components), so it is not just a matter of the exact amount of the money given. Somewhat ironically, the Inflation Reduction Act (which the Trump admin is trying to gut/rollback) included government loans to develop the EV market and this was basically modeled after the Chinese govt program. The Chinese govt program though is proof that subsidies work if you maintain them for a long enough.
In case anyone thinks that only the U.S. uses tariffs, I would note that China applies tariffs and includes restrictions on imports as well, so I am not saying that the U.S. should not use any tariffs whatsoever. That being said, I would note that Tesla makes and sells EVs in China and it is currently being out-competed by BYD and others. Tesla deserves a ton of praise/credit in the world for starting the EV boom (and yes, with U.S. loans/grants) and Tesla even contributed to the EV boom in China, as it is only with Tesla's entry into the market that the Chinese companies started improving performance, to the point where they are now frankly beating Tesla.