A recent opinion column in the Anchorage Daily News (”The case for killing the tax credit for electric vehicles,” Jan. 8) urged elimination of American-made vehicle manufacturing incentives. It turns out the author of that op-ed works for a Washington DC area think tank that is funded by outsourcing companies investing in China, and for companies that have an economic incentive to oppose American energy independence. The United States is in a battle with China and Russia for industrial and military supremacy, and we cannot allow the Chinese to put American automakers out of business. Since Alaska is on the literal front lines of conflict with China and Russia, domestic manufacturing capacity is a life-and-death issue for our state.
Our automakers’ fight to survive is just one facet of a multi-dimensional struggle for industrial and technological superiority. China has spent the last two decades attempting to obtain monopoly control over critical minerals mining and processing, battery manufacturing, production of computer processors, and electric vehicles. These technologies are synergistic, and rapid advances mean that unsubsidized electric vehicle (EV) costs are lower than the cost of gasoline vehicles in most of the world. American, other Western automakers, and manufacturers based in allied countries like Korea have watched these developments closely and are working overtime to bring their own EV production to scale and profitability. The economic reality is stark: If Ford, GM, and Stellantis—not to mention companies like Volkswagen, Kia, Hyundai, and Toyota, which have made tens of billions of dollars in battery and vehicle manufacturing investments in American in the last four years—don’t keep up with EV production, Chinese companies like BYD will put them out of business over the next decade. That is why Western manufacturers are urging Congress and the Trump administration to maintain stability with manufacturing policy, including vehicle manufacturing.
Over the last four years, Congress has acted decisively to promote U.S. manufacturing and break China’s stranglehold over tech and battery manufacturing. With passage of the CHIPS Act, infrastructure bill, and Inflation Reduction Act, America is rebuilding our industrial capacity for the digital era. Since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (which passed shortly after CHIPS), firms have invested an additional $132 billion in energy, battery, and vehicle manufacturing in the U.S. Domestic firms like Ford and GM and re-shoring supply chains within North America to be more secure in the context of Chinese aggression, and firms like Hyundai that are based in allied nations are also investing billions in American manufacturing.
Our national interests are clear: We must maintain industrial supremacy over China, and in the 21st century that includes tech ranging from processors to batteries to vehicles.
So who’s behind the subterfuge to sabotage domestic manufacturing? The author of the recent anti-US manufacturing op-ed works at the Mercatus Institute, a corporate and foreign-funded “think tank” headquartered near Washington DC. In her piece she made the insincere claim that the subsidy should be ended because it primarily benefits the wealthy. The think tanks funded by Koch Industries advocate for the interest of corporations and the wealthy. That’s their gig. Charles Koch sits on Mercatus’ board of directors. They’re not to be trusted. While the dark money group Donors Trust shields many of Mercatus’ funders from disclosure, Mercatus is on the record telling donors they will accept foreign money. In addition, companies that promote outsourcing, such as the mega donor Charles Schwab, fund Mercatus. Like many Wall Street firms that have destroyed American manufacturing, Schwab brazenly advertises its outsourcing services while using dark money to eliminate domestic manufacturing incentives. The oil company Exxon also funds Mercatus. But Exxon wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice American national security if it means impeding production of domestically-made EVs. Would they?
My career was in the electrical field, and there has been more technological advancement in energy, batteries and vehicles in the last 10 years than the previous half-century. If America fails to develop and sustain our industrial base, China will destroy us. Let’s not forget the lessons of WWII, when our dominance in vehicle, aviation, and naval manufacturing saved the free world. We must sustain and advance our domestic vehicle manufacturers, and that means continuing EV incentives for American vehicles.
Vince Beltrami is a career electrical worker who worked in the field as an inside wireman, ran the IBEW/NECA joint apprenticeship training program and served as president of the Alaska AFL-CIO. The views expressed here are his own.
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