An Open Letter to the President!

You love to surprise and distract everyone, right? Well, read on.

Dear President Trump,

You don’t know me but we have a lot in common! We both lived in NYC and, if that’s not enough, I used to work for the government, just like you do now. Yes, I admit I worked for the Biden admin, of whom you are sometimes a touch critical, but hey, we left office with lower inflation and much higher job growth than you’ve got, so give me a listen. I guess I should also admit to some critical posts of your work, but the whole “Orange Menace” thing is just good fun, right?!

I hear you’re going to China this week. And I know you like to control the news cycle with shocking pronouncements. So here’s my idea. I should tell you in advance that, as a Democrat, I’m arguing against my interests here, as if you take me up on this, it just might help boost your tanking popularity numbers.

Tell President Xi that, if he agrees to your conditions, you’re willing to let him export, un-tariffed, 100,000 Chinese EVs into America. The conditions are stringent, as they should be, but even so, I suspect Xi will take the bait.

—No Chinese software in the vehicles. We will rewrite it for security reasons.

—Technology transfer: Chinese engineers must work with U.S. automakers to produce domestic EVs, along with their batteries. As Dean Baker (you’d love him!) and I suggest, we could boost China’s export quota as they work directly with our automakers to produce more cars here.

—Any joint projects must only occur in union shops. We’d need UAW cooperation on this, and if this project took off as I believe it would, that means more union jobs in manufacturing. Let’s be real, Donnie: your tariffs just aren’t working.

Why go there? There are many reasons, but the main one is EV production is the future and China is gobbling up market share. Most of the cars sold in their massive home market are electric. In Europe, EVs sales beat those of solely gas-powered cars.

This is also an affordability play, an area where, let’s be real, you need help. Though they’d sell for more here than in China, these Chinese EVs are inexpensive, high quality and they charge quickly. When asked about his Chinese-made Xiaomi SU7, Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley said: “I’ve been driving it for six months now, and I don’t want to give it up.”

The quota is designed to get American consumers a taste of what’s possible in this space, and I predict it will unleash cascading demand for more of these cars, which, if we get this right, can be made here as per the tech transfer. Given its impact on the gas price, your misadventure in the Middle East will also help boost demand. Remember, Mr. President, the more EVs, the less Americans have to worry about that pesky Chokepoint of Hormuz you messed up on.

I’ll admit, sir, at the risk of annoying you, that I like the environmental impacts of this play, but don’t let that bother you. The point, as in the figure below, is that this EV thing is taking off, and we’re either on the electric bus or off of it.

So, screw the climate! This is about giving our domestic auto-industry a chance to beat China at their own reverse-engineering game, and in the process transferring hundreds of billions in subsidies spent by the Chinese to American consumers in the form of not just great EVs, but the technology to make them here.

If you’d like to talk further about this, Mr. President, just give me a shout. I know you say that the “J” in Donald J. Trump is for “Jenius,” so let’s prove it with this surprising, ambitious move.

As you would say: Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Safe travels!
Jared