Biden’s electric vehicle mandates give auto industry to China on a silver platter

Biden treats China as a 'foreign entity of concern' and that nation dominates the materials used in electric vehicle batteries. But the White House is still pushing EV mandates.

Even as the White House opens an investigation into the national security risks of China obtaining sensitive data from connected car technologies, it is making America wholly reliant on Chinese electric vehicle technology. Beijing could exploit this dependency by hiking prices, restricting supplies and stealing data from electric cars.  Joe Buccino is a research analyst at the Defense Innovation Board, a former communications director at U.S. Central Command, and a retired U.S. Army colonel with five deployments to the Middle East during his military career. He served as the communications director for the NATO support mission in Europe from February to November 2022. 

China already dominates the global electric vehicle industry. In 2022, China accounted for 59% of worldwide electric vehicle sales. The Chinese government is aggressively cornering the market for electric vehicle batteries, which lean on critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and graphite. China now controls more than 80% of the global rare earth elements — material critical for electric vehicle production. The Chinese government has weaponized this dominance, restricting exports of gallium and germanium last August, and causing prices in Europe to immediately spike.