Elon Musk once said that China's electric car (EV) companies would destroy other countries' car companies if sanctions were not imposed. At this point BYD has successfully overtaken Tesla as the company that sells the most EVs in the world. Yesterday the White House announced that America will begin an investigation into the security risks posed by Chinese-made EVs.
With a variety of sensors and cameras, America is worried that every EV from China has the ability to spy on behalf of the CCP while also posing a risk to national security and the privacy of residents. This is the same reason America used to ban Huawei and ZTE telecommunications equipment and prevent military personnel from owning DJI drones a few years ago.
From an outside point of view, this can be seen as another step taken by America to ensure that China will not become their challenger in the world of technology. Huawei only started being included in the entity list almost five years ago after it came close to becoming the world's largest smartphone manufacturer.
At the same time the paranoia of EVs being used for espionage purposes can be traced back to China. It went viral on social media two years ago when Tesla cars were banned from entering the city that President Xi Jin Ping was to visit for security reasons.
What is certain is that we are looking at another battleground of the US-China trade war to open up after it involves smartphones, telecommunications equipment, natural resources and artificial intelligence chips.