Chinese Evs, Batteries Gain World Market Share As Trump Backs Oil

In an opinion article published by The New York Times titled“Trump Is Obsessed With Oil, But Chinese Batteries Will Soon Run the World,” Wang says China's advance in batteries and electrification is reshaping global competition in ways that oil‐focused strategies struggle to address.

Wang says Trump has framed access to foreign oil as a central pillar of US power, betting that global demand for fossil fuels will remain strong for decades; by contrast, China has focused on substituting electricity for oil, using EVs and batteries to reduce domestic oil dependence while expanding exports of electrical products.

“In 2025, 54% of new cars sold in China were either battery-powered or plug-in hybrids,” he says.“That is a big reason that the country's oil consumption is on track to peak in 2027.”

“China isn't just building gigantic amounts of power; its businesses are reshaping technological foundations to electrify the world,” he says, adding that China's lead rests on its ability to build power generation and manufacturing capacity at scale.

Europe has emerged as a key overseas market for Chinese-made electric vehicles since the US imposed a 100% tariff on the products in May 2024, effectively shutting them out of the US market.

In October 2024, the EU imposed anti-subsidy duties on Chinese-made EVs, setting additional tariffs of 17.4% on BYD, 20% on Geely, and 38.1% on SAIC, on top of the bloc's standard 10% import tariff on passenger cars.

Analysts have said Chinese EV manufacturers, benefiting from relatively high margins and cost advantages, have been able to absorb the added charges without significant difficulty. Besides, these companies can set up factories in Europe to assemble their EVs, thereby avoiding tariffs.

The European Commission said on January 12 that China-based EV makers could seek to replace EU tariffs by committing to minimum selling prices set for each model and configuration, based on the price charged to the first independent buyer in the EU, while taking into account Chinese investment in local production.

“This is conducive not only to ensuring the healthy development of China-EU economic and trade relations, but also to safeguarding the rules-based international trade order,” said China's commerce ministry.

Canada, an oil-rich country that Trump has publicly suggested should become the 51st state of the US, announced last week that it would lower tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 6.1%, the most-favoured-nation rate, from 100%. Ottawa also said it would allow imports of up to 49,000 Chinese EVs.

In return, China is expected to cut tariffs on Canadian canola oil to 15% from 85% starting March 1. The deal was reached during a January 16 meeting in Beijing between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy criticized the move, saying he believed Canada would eventually regret allowing Chinese cars into its market.

The United Kingdom, which is no longer part of the EU's trade regime after Brexit, has never imposed additional tariffs on Chinese EVs. A decade ago, Transport for London (TfL) started using BYD's electric buses. As of last June, it has deployed 2,000 units.

Data show that battery EVs accounted for 19.6% of new car registrations in the UK in 2024. The EV penetration rate in the UK was 21.57% in the first half of 2025, above the European average of 17.47%.

Since 2024, Beijing has used trade deals and market access to test Western coordination aimed at restraining China's EV sector. Some observers say differing political priorities and commercial interests among allied economies are increasingly complicating a unified response.