He Xiaopeng, the CEO of XPeng Motors, predicts a “bloodbath” against America’s auto industry with the help of cheap China-made electric vehicles (EVs).
Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump was campaigning in Andalia, Ohio, when he warned that without fierce new United States tariffs on China-made EVs, the American auto industry will face “a bloodbath for the country” with jobs lost and industry offshored.
“We’re going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected,” Trump said. “Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole, that’s going to be the least of it, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country, that’s going to be the least of it.”
Trump’s remark mimicked comments made by Xiaopeng in a letter to XPeng employees obtained by CNBC last month. Xiaopeng suggested that “a bloodbath” is coming for the American auto industry this year.
China seeks to deliver a “brutal knockout round” against its Western competitors, including the U.S., in the global EV market, Xiaopeng said.
CNBC reported:
“This year also marks the beginning of a fierce competition that may end in a ‘bloodbath’ (or as I prefer to call it, the brutal ‘knockout round’) among Chinese auto makers,” Xiaopeng wrote in the employee memo. [Emphasis added