MFA Spokesperson’s comment on President Joe Biden’s exclusive interview with Time magazine about Chinese electric vehicles

At the MFA regular press conference on June 6, a question about US President Joe Biden’s recent interview with Time magazine was raised to the spokesperson. Below is the question and answer:

CCTV: It’s reported US President Joe Biden in an exclusive interview with Time magazine this week said that the Chinese government provided large amounts of subsidies to flood the US market with electric vehicles and the US is not going to put up with it. What’s China’s response?

Mao Ning: The popularity of Chinese electric vehicles and other new energy products in the global market is the result of persistent tech innovation, well-established industrial and supply chains and full market competition. This is what happens when our comparative advantages provide exactly what the market needs. Our companies competed their way to excellence rather than relied on government subsidies. Last year, China only exported 13,000 electric vehicles to the US. In what way can that be called “flooding” the US market?

Industrial subsidies actually originated in the US and Europe and are widely adopted by countries all over the world. China’s industrial subsidy policy strictly abides by WTO rules and the principles of fairness, transparency and non-discrimination. China never uses WTO prohibited subsidies. The US, on the other hand, is a big subsidizer of its domestic industries. In recent years, the US signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act to directly intervene in the allocation of market resources through direct and indirect subsidies totaling hundreds of billions of US dollars.

Subsidies do not generate competitiveness. Protectionism protects nothing but backwardness with the future as its cost. The US discriminatory practices against Chinese electric vehicles violate WTO rules, destabilize global industrial and supply chains and will eventually undermine the US’s own interests. China urges the US to earnestly abide by market principles and international trade rules, and create a level playing field for companies from all countries. China will firmly defend its lawful rights and interests.