EU markets are about to be flooded by relatively cheap Chinese EVs, says The Economist. And a good thing, too; they will help fight climate change and inflation. If domestic car companies are damaged by the exports, so what? History tells us they’ll adjust. If the Chinese want to pay Europeans through extensive subsidies to drive their cars, God bless them.
The argument makes a certain amount of sense, even if it is politically tone deaf. The bottom line, however, is that you can make the same arguments about the American efforts to promote the domestic production of green products, but The Economist thinks those are an appalling example of protectionism.
I sense a double standard here. The Chinese are just being Chinese, so we don’t expect much from them, but the Americans have an obligation to stand up for free trade even when no one else will do so due to the toxic politics.