Trump sat down with Xi Jinping to talk about Chinese automakers while U.S. lawmakers frantically built walls out of tariffs and restrictions. The fear: Chinese car companies might flood American dealerships with vehicles so cheap they'd make a Kia look like a wealth signal.
U.S. automakers spent decades perfecting the art of selling $80,000 pickup trucks to people earning $45,000 a year. Now they're terrified some Chinese company will undercut them by offering a functional vehicle at a price that doesn't require a seven-year loan. The horror.
Calling this a Pandora's box implies something catastrophic gets unleashed. But the box is already open. American car buyers are already getting f*cked. They're just getting f*cked by Detroit and interest rates instead of Beijing. The nationality of the person selling you a depreciating asset you can't afford doesn't change the math.
The restrictions stay in place because protecting American jobs means protecting the right of Ford and GM to charge you $1,200 for a backup camera that costs $40 to manufacture. This is called economic patriotism. It's also called a cartel, but that word doesn't poll well with focus groups.
Retail traders saw this headline and immediately started Googling Chinese EV tickers they can't pronounce. They'll buy calls on companies that don't trade in the U.S., lose money on the currency conversion alone, and blame Jerome Powell for their margin call.
The meeting will accomplish nothing. Trump and Xi will shake hands. The restrictions will remain. U.S. automakers will keep building cars nobody wants while charging prices nobody can justify. And your 2019 Honda Civic will continue to be worth more than you paid for it, which is the only data point that ever mattered.
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