Trump’s war has revved up China’s EV sales

China exported 435,000 electric vehicles in May, a 100% increase from 2025. Its total exports of cars was 809,000, an increase of 73% compared to last year. By comparison, domestic American vehicle sales in May were 1.47 million. 

That means China’s sales were equal to 55% of US purchases in the month, while its EV exports were almost 30%. American President Donald Trump can legitimately take credit for the surge in China’s EV boom. 

As he might say, “Frankly, if it wasn’t for me, their EV exports would not be growing like that.” 

Trump has lit a rocket under the EV industry of the world’s second-largest economy. While electric vehicle sales by manufacturers worldwide are rising, no one was better situated to benefit from the surge in demand created by Trump’s war on Iran than Chinese companies. 

They account for more than 70% of global EV sales. That share is likely to rise, even as the market expands rapidly. Trump’s war helped to boost sales not only by raising the price of gas, it also created enormous uncertainty about future hikes. 

With one of the world’s major superpowers run by a person who apparently gives no consideration to the impact his actions have on the global economy, driving a gas-powered car looks like a much riskier proposition.

Economic pressure

What is neat about this surge in EVs is that it is irreversible. People who buy them rarely switch back to gas-powered models, especially in countries that have the infrastructure and charging stations to support electric vehicles. 

And more EVs on the road create political and economic pressure to upgrade the infrastructure to facilitate their use. They can be thought of as being like a virus – the more that get sold, the more they spread. 

When a large segment of car users has EVs, governments and businesses set up charging stations and repair shops. 

Also, when people see their co-workers, friends, and neighbors driving them, and saving a fortune on gas and maintenance, they become interested in owning one themselves. Once EVs get a big foot in the door, their spread is pretty much impossible to stop.

That is one reason why some of us have argued for allowing at least some number of high-quality, low-cost Chinese EVs into the American market. 

People could then see the benefits of EVs. Ideally, we would work out an arrangement where China transferred the technology so that they could be produced in the US, with union labor. 

Unfortunately, the Trump administration has zero interest in going down this road. It would rather double down on archaic technology. The story is actually getting worse. 

There has been legislation introduced in the US Congress that would prohibit Chinese cars from even entering the United States. This would prevent someone from Canada or Mexico from driving their car over the border for a visit.

Apparently, the bill’s sponsors, lawmakers Elissa Slotkin and Haley Stevens, both from Michigan, are worried about allowing people in the US to even see Chinese cars. This shows that not all whack job stuff in American politics originates with Trump.

Green transition

But getting back to the president and the green transition, it’s not just EV sales that have rocketed. China’s solar panels exports are up a massive 60% year-on-year. Battery sales worldwide increased by 42%.

The bottom line is that Trump’s war in Iran has done far more to jump start the green transition than almost any conceivable policy that a Biden-Harris administration might have put in place. 

That is great news. The unfortunate part is that China is at the center of it, and that it had to come about through war. 

Dean Baker is the co-founder and the senior economist of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, which is based in Washington. 

This edited article is republished from Common Dreams under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of China Factor.