Chinese EV maker Nio has called on the US government to grant equal access to the American market, asserting that political tensions between the two nations should not impede the car industry, according to the Financial Times (FT).
Founder and CEO William Li questioned the hurdles faced by Chinese companies while Tesla‘s Elon Musk received favourable treatment in China in June.
“The world should be more open and stop politicising business,” Li said in an interview with the FT.
“The global political climate has become totally different from that when we set up our company back in 2015, especially after the pandemic stirred up division and antagonism.”
Li also highlighted the uncertain foreign market access for Chinese companies. This arises as multiple emerging EV manufacturers, including BYD, XPeng, and Li Auto, expand their operations overseas.
According to the FT, last week Nio joined a group of Chinese automakers and Tesla in pledging to enhance “core socialist values” and compete fairly. This followed Beijing’s directive to the industry to curb the months long price war.
Accessing the US market is challenging due to high tariffs on Chinese vehicles.
Uncertainty also looms over subsidies and the treatment of Chinese-branded vehicles and EV components manufactured in China under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
This act aims to bolster domestic manufacturing and reduce America’s economic dependency on China.
Li’s appeal for improved access to the US market coincides with China’s expected passing of Japan as the world’s largest car exporter this year. China took the second spot from Germany in 2022, the FT noted.
