this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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Chinese technology companies are paving the way for a world that will be powered by electric motors rather than gas-guzzling engines. It is a decisively 21st-century approach not just to solve its own energy problems, but also to sell batteries and other electric products to everyone else. Canada is its newest buyer of EVs; in a rebuke of Mr. Trump, its prime minister, Mark Carney, lowered tariffs on the cars as part of a new trade deal.

Though Americans have been slow to embrace electric vehicles, Chinese households have learned to love them. In 2025, 54 percent of new cars sold in China were either battery-powered or plug-in hybrids. That is a big reason that the country’s oil consumption is on track to peak in 2027, according to forecasts from the International Energy Agency. And Chinese E.V makers are setting records — whether it’s BYD’s sales (besting Tesla by battery-powered vehicles sold for the first time last year) or Xiaomi’s speed (its cars are setting records at major racetracks like Nürburgring in Germany).

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[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 131 points 1 day ago (3 children)

It's like he wakes up every morning and asks himself "What can I do to make sure China owns the 21st century?"

[–] Mantzy81@aussie.zone 77 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Thats because he's stuck in the 80s. It's common for people with dementia to fall back to a time they thought was good and for him, it was the 80s when oil was king.

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Frankly you're giving him too much credit. If oil is really still king it won't need his help. He might be able to claim he was just being fair if he had only removed subsidies, but he was and still is actively sabotaging adoption of electric vehicles, like by terminating the USPS contract to buy all those electric mail trucks or removing already installed EV chargers at federal sites.

[–] Wander@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

Oil is king but you can still make some sweet sweet bribe money. - Trump

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 13 points 1 day ago

This is one of those situations where the venn diagram of Trump's handlers becomes a circle.

You have the billionaire Oil executives that want to continue using all their existing infrastructure and wasy access to continue printing money like they do now. Meanwhile, those companies all see the writing on the wall and know it's running out so they're investing in or buying technologies and companies working on alternatives. They're playing both sides because they're not idiots.

And then you have the manipulators like Putin (who we know Trump idolizes) with their goals of destroying American power across the board. Having America not only abandon new technologies but even propping up the old ones past when they should be phased out to focus on century-old priorities while the rest of the world continues to move on, helps that overall goal.

[–] Xanthobilly@lemmy.world -5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They’re bribing him and his daughter to do so.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Bribery is how the US political system has operated for the bulk of the country's history

But, for the most part, the bribery was intended to increase private profits. Rarely have we seen industry bribe the feds in an act of self-sabotage.