The Biden administration's aggressive electric vehicle mandates threaten to hand control of America's critical auto industry to the Chinese Communist Party, making the U.S. dangerously dependent on China for batteries and raw materials.
The Biden administration's ambitious electric vehicle (EV) mandates, aimed at dramatically expanding America's EV market, are poised to have a far-reaching impact on the nation's auto industry. However, these mandates also carry significant national security risks, as they could potentially hand control of this critical industry to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recently finalized tailpipe emissions rule forces a rushed transition to EVs, requiring a 56% EV share and 16% hybrid share for new light and medium-duty vehicle sales by 2032, up from just 7.6% today. The administration is also pushing a similar rapid scale-up for heavy-duty trucks, which currently have only 5% EV sales.
Biden's Electric Vehicle Mandates Hand America's Auto Industry to China
These mandates will render the U.S. perilously dependent on CCP-controlled EV supply chains. China already dominates the global EV industry, accounting for 59% of worldwide EV sales in 2022. The Chinese government is also aggressively cornering the market for EV batteries, which rely on critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and graphite.
China now controls more than 80% of the global rare earth elements, materials essential for EV production. In August 2022, the Chinese government weaponized this dominance by restricting exports of gallium and germanium, causing prices in Europe to soar.
Biden's Electric Vehicle Mandates Hand America's Auto Industry to China
Despite classifying China as a "foreign entity of concern" and slashing subsidies for Chinese-made EV batteries in December 2022, the Biden administration's EV mandates effectively outsource the American auto industry to China.
As the White House investigates the national security risks associated with China obtaining sensitive data from connected car technologies, its reliance on Chinese EV technology creates a perilous situation. Beijing could exploit this dependency through price hikes, supply restrictions, and data theft from electric cars.
Biden's Electric Vehicle Mandates Hand America's Auto Industry to China
President Biden's urgency to combat climate change is commendable, but the administration cannot overlook the grave national security risks of relinquishing control of a critical industry to China. Chinese investment in overseas EV battery plants and mineral extraction has skyrocketed, surging from $600 million in 2016 to $24 billion in 2022.
Mandating such an accelerated shift from gas-powered autos to EVs without a plan for building up domestic production capacity is reckless. The EPA's new mandates will force Americans to rely on China for their daily transportation needs, exposing the U.S. to Chinese price gouging, political pressure, and crippling supply chain disruptions.
Instead of rushing headlong into an EV transition with no domestic production plan, the Biden administration should prioritize building a robust domestic EV manufacturing ecosystem. This could include targeted investments and incentives for U.S. companies to develop cutting-edge EV and battery technologies, extract and process critical minerals, and scale up production capacity.
Biden must immediately reverse course on his EV mandates and scrap the EPA's regulations. The administration should focus on establishing secure, domestic, clean vehicle supply chains before forcing a hasty EV transition that could have dire consequences for America's auto industry and national security.
