Affordability a key factor

Auto affordability has become a serious issue in the US. A modeling study by Plante Moran found that a third of the US population can't afford new vehicles, CNBC reported in January.

"Affordability is reshaping purchase decisions, driving interest in cheaper Chinese vehicles," Dave Cantin Group President Brian Gordon said when the 2025 Market Outlook Report was released in August.

However, US automakers are not willing to give US consumers the options to buy Chinese EVs.

"We should not let them into our country because (of) the economic impact," Ford CEO Farley said in a Fox TV interview in mid-April. "Manufacturing is the heart and soul of our country, and for us to lose that to those exports would be devastating for our country."

Many readers of the WSJ article said that banning Chinese EVs undermines the principle of a free market and the competitiveness of the US auto industry.

"Let's see … should we protect a handful of billion dollar corporations (the US automakers) or should we protect millions of US citizens who want/need an affordable car? I favor the little people but I'm pretty sure Congress does not," wrote Simon Smith in the comments section.

"Let them in! If US automakers can't build a quality, affordable product, they deserve to lose the market. What happened to free markets?" asked Claude Whitworth.

Noah Smith, an economic analyst, former assistant finance professor and Bloomberg economic columnist, argued that the presence of Chinese EVs will benefit the US overall.

"The main reason to let in Chinese EVs is that the United States needs to embrace EVs in general," Smith said in a January blog.

He argued that if the US keeps driving combustion cars while the rest of the world switches to EVs, its automotive technology "will be orphaned from the rest of the world".

"One way Chinese EVs would benefit America is by forcing Detroit to compete," Noah Smith wrote, reasoning that competition would force US automakers to make big investments in EV innovation and technology and "keep doing this until it worked".

The US is not in a good position when it comes to EV innovation and production. According to analysis from E2's Clean Economy Works tracker, US companies announced just $12.3 billion in new clean-energy and battery investment in 2025 -the lowest annual figure since the project began.

Meanwhile, cancellations and downsizing reached $34.8 billion, with the EV battery sector losing $21 billion in committed capital.

The contraction was, to a great degree, due to domestic policy changes with tax credits for solar, wind and EVs compressed or rolled back.

Meanwhile, China is forging ahead with new EV technologies.

At the 2026 Beijing Auto Show that ended on May 3, CATL unveiled six new battery technologies in a single day, including a third-generation Qilin cell rated for more than 1,000 kilometers of range, a Shenxing fast-charging cell that reaches 98 percent of a full charge in six minutes and 27 seconds, and a 350 watt-hour-per-kilogram condensed-state cell that is good for 1,500 km.

BYD founder Wang Chuanfu, while launching the second-generation Blade Battery, put the design philosophy plainly: "The only way out is to make charging as fast and convenient as refueling a gas car."