With the selection of J.D. Vance as Donald Trump’s running mate, and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien’s speech at the Republican National Convention, the realignment has never seemed more real. When the GOP engages with unions and runs a candidate who has worked with Democrats to close tax loopholes and pass new safety regulations, what orthodoxies on the right aren’t open to question?
Well, there seems to be at least one: opposition to electric cars. The persistence of this stance is especially surprising, given that it directly conflicts with the America First goal of restoring US energy independence and trade dominance. Somehow, self-proclaimed nationalists have ended up taking a stance that would permit China to have unchallenged dominance in a vastly expanding sector.
As recounted in these pages by David P. Goldman, China made history last year by putting out an electric car, dubbed the Seagull, with a price tag equivalent to the nation’s per-capita GDP of $11,300—less than a third the cost of the cheapest Tesla. In February, the Alliance for American Manufacturing released a paper calling the Seagull an “existential threat” to the US auto industry. BYD, the government-subsidized company that makes the Seagull, is now building plants in Europe and in Mexico, which will open up access to Western markets, including in the United States. “The CCP’s objective is no secret,” the report states. It is “global market dominance.”