With a joint review of Canada’s free trade agreement with the US and Mexico coming up in 2026
Alright I’ll say it. I hate how pricey cars and transportation currently are and would totally go for a decent middle of the road (no pun intended) EV that costs like $10-20K less than whats currently on offer. Now I know theres a lot of unfair competition and nuanced takes around this topic so someone please tell me why that might not be the best stance to take, I’m trying to be a little more informed.
There are a lot of ethical concerns around Chinese worker treatment, economic concerns around Chinese subsidies driving the price down, privacy concerns around Chinese tech’s tendency to phone home, geopolitical concerns around giving China even more power in our nation…
But honestly, same. Nowadays I can’t get a car at a decent price in a decent time frame, even worse if I want an EV, so what’s the expectation? The auto industry has dropped the ball so hard that China would trivially dominate the EV industry if they were allowed to compete. That’s bad, but it’s so bad because the local industry isn’t even in the ballpark of good enough.
Ya thats where I’m at right now. On one hand I detest the data/privacy nonsense and the unfair subsidies but… on the other I think a fire under these companies asses to innovate and compete is long overdue. Also our EV infrastructure just doesn’t seem like it’s quite there yet. Something has to change because I just don’t think cars are worth what they are asking right now.
It is not just about data/privacy concerns (which are underestimated imo, as China pursues an own agenda with collecting your data through Chinese tech) and ‘unfair’ subsidies, but about gross human rights violations. In short, the cheap Chinese cars are made in concentration camps where people are forced to work under catastrophic conditions.
