China just won the EV race due to Trump – it’s now negotiating closer trade with EU
China announced that it has resumed talks with the European Union to lower trade barriers and increase economic cooperation, with specific focus on electric vehicles, in response to US tariffs – showing another way that Trump’s actions will bring ruin to American manufacturing.
Tariffs don’t work. We said it before when Biden implemented auto tariffs and when Europe did too, and we’ll say it again until we don’t have to say it anymore.
There are some potential benefits or situations that they can be used in, but when they are decided on haphazardly, not targeted towards any particular industry or country, not accompanied by onshoring incentives, and not done in concert with allies to produce a desired effect, they tend to just be bad for the country imposing them. And we’ve already seen how the last round of tariffs on China didn’t work, instead resulting in job losses and inflation for Americans.
They work especially poorly when implemented by someone who routinely shows, with every public action and statement that he makes, that he understands nothing about the world or even about his own policies. When tariffs are implemented by fiat, under a false emergency, by an entity that doesn’t have the Constitutional authority to do so, and are changed every day, they will tend to work even worse at producing any sort of desirable effect for the country implementing them, or at allowing businesses to plan around them.
As you likely already know, this latter tactic has been the one chosen by convicted felon Donald Trump, who recently wandered back into the Oval Office (despite that there exists a clear legal remedy for insurrectionists) and has apparently dedicated himself to tanking the US economy as much as possible and in the stupidest possible ways.
Recently, he announced huge tariffs on every country, claiming them as “reciprocal” tariffs for PR purposes, even against countries that do not levy tariffs against the US. It turns out, the numbers behind these tariffs are based on a dumb formula that didn’t even use the right numbers, ignored entire economic sectors (like services, which US is a net exporter of), and included uninhabited islands like Heard & McDonald islands near Antarctica, suggesting they were not generated intentionally by a thinking human but rather auto-generated based on a list of countries.
This chaos has resulted in significant International response, with just about everyone pointing out what a poor idea all of this is. For an encapsulation of much of what’s wrong with these tactics, listen to this speech by the Prime Minister of Singapore:
And Europe has responded by imposing retaliatory tariffs on the US.
China and the EU are not the only countries that the US has pushed away with these tariff discussions. Our closest neighbor, Canada, is increasingly seeking cooperation from elsewhere after being unreasonably targeted with tariffs by the US, and polling for the upcoming Canadian election swung by about 25 percentage points as Canadians have gained a new sense of national unity in the face of trade attacks from the US. The close ties between the US & Canadian economies can be seen in job losses in both countries as a result of the tariffs, mere days after they were implemented.
And today, we’re seeing one specific example of how these tariffs will benefit the main country they’re targeted at harming, China, as the country has announced that its seeking closer trade cooperation with the European Union.
China announces US tariffs are pushing China & EU closer
China’s commerce minister announced today that China had talks with EU earlier this week via a video call. The announcement is light on details, but states that further talks will begin soon with an emphasis on deepening trade, investment and industrial cooperation between Europe and China.
Specifically, China said that there would be discussion of minimum price commitments for electric vehicles (which, to be clear, are also anticompetitive, just slightly less so). It also said that the motivating factor behind these talks is the tariff chaos happening in the US right now.
In October, Europe enacted a tariff on Chinese EVs up to 35.3%. Europe claimed that this was due to unfair subsidy practices by China, despite that Europe also subsidizes its own EV industry (and rightly so). China responded by levying its own tariffs on European products like brandy.
So today’s announcement suggests that there may be some reversal of those tariffs, as long as China promises not to import EVs at a price that European manufacturers can’t match. And resumption in these talks will mean that China gains more prominence on the international stage as an exporter, while the US fades away in the same realm.
Tariff chaos is handing world leadership to China
Similar talks occurred between the US and Japan in the early 1980s, including minimum prices and import quotas, after it became apparent that Japanese automakers had far exceeded the Americans in efficiency. While this did offer a lifeline to the US auto industry, Japan rode that high to five decades of export dominance, being the largest auto exporter in the world from then until now – where it was only recently eclipsed… by, you guessed it: China.
China already has a dominant position in the global EV industry. The country has put significant effort into developing its industrial base towards electrification and as a provider of cleantech and its components, something that the US was late on the train to do (and which Trump and republicans are trying to reverse). It’s able to produce high-quality vehicles at lower prices, and with its own technology like LFP batteries, which are cheaper and more durable (though less energy dense).
The US could compete with this by incentivizing local manufacturing (as it did under Biden) and leveraging the soft power it has always held on the international stage to keep trade barriers low and cooperation high between it and some of the world’s largest consumer blocs – or it could do the wrong thing and push all other countries away, letting China swoop in and gain power as the US abandons the world.
But America seems determined to make its own lot worse, despite ample warnings that all of this would happen.
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![Hackers turn Nissan LEAF into full-scale RC car, record drivers' conversations [video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/05/nissan-leaf-hacked.png?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
A team of white hat European hackers using their brains, keyboards, and a couple of bits and baubles from eBay managed to take control of a 2020 Nissan LEAF and violate just about every privacy and safety regulation in the process.
The best part: they recorded the whole thing.
Budapest-based cybersecurity experts PCAutomotive were able to exploit a number of vulnerabilities in a 2020 Nissan LEAF that enabled the white hat team to geolocate and track the car, record the texts and conversations happening inside the car, playing media back through the car’s speakers, and even (this is the genuinely terrifying dangerous part) turning the steering wheel while the car was moving. (!?)
Maybe the scariest part of this hack, however, is how seemingly easy it was to pull off by starting with a “test bench simulator” built using parts from eBay and exploiting a vulnerability in the LEAF’s DNS C2 channel and Bluetooth protocol.
The PCAutomotive team gave a hugely detailed 118-page presentation of their exploit at black hat Asia 2025, which we’ve included at the bottom of this post, in case the original link goes dead. If you’re into that sort of thing, the fun stuff starts around page 27. And, if you’re not, just know that all the vulnerabilities were disclosed to Nissan and its suppliers between 02AUG2023 and 12SEP2024 (p. 116/118), and the “attack” itself can be seen in the video below that. Enjoy!
Summary of vulnerabilities
- CVE-2025-32056 – Anti-Theft bypass
- CVE-2025-32057 – app_redbend: MiTM attack
- CVE-2025-32058 – v850: Stack Overflow in CBR processing
- CVE-2025-32059 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [0]
- CVE-2025-32060 – Absence of a kernel module signature verification
- CVE-2025-32061 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [1]
- CVE-2025-32062 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [2]
- PCA_NISSAN_009 – Improper traffic filtration between CAN buses
- CVE-2025-32063 – Persistence for Wi-Fi network
- PCA_NISSAN_012 – Persistence through CVE-2017-7932 in HAB of i.MX 6
Remote exploitation of Nissan LEAF
Electrek’s Take
This is one of those posts that, on the bright side, does a great job explaining how a remote operator can “log in” to a vehicle and steer it out of trouble when a weird or edge-case-type situation pops up.
Unfortunately, this is also one of those posts that some of the more clueless anti-EV hysterics will point to and say, “See!? EVs can get hacked!” But the reality is that virtually any car with electric power steering (EPS), electronic throttle controls, brake-by-wire, etc. can be hacked in a similar way. But, while steering a target’s car into an oncoming semi might be a great way to pull off a covert CIA assassination, the more worrying issue here is the breach of privacy and recording – unless you want to spend some time in El Salvadoran prison, I guess.
Remember, kids: Big Brother is watching you.
SOURCE | IMAGES: black hat.
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A major new EV battery factory is being built in Sunderland, bringing 1,000 new jobs with it. AESC, Nissan’s battery partner, is behind the £1 billion ($1.33 billion) plant, which will boost the UK’s EV battery production by six times, enough to power 100,000 electric cars annually.
The 12 GWh capacity plant, AESC’s second battery plant in Sunderland, will be powered by 100% net-zero carbon energy. That big jump in capacity helps position Britain as a global player in EV manufacturing while pushing forward the country’s net-zero goals.
The investment is getting a serious financial lift from the British government. Through a combination of support from the National Wealth Fund and UK Export Finance, the project is unlocking £680 million in financing from major banks, including HSBC, Standard Chartered, SMBC Group, Societe Generale, and BBVA, that covers the construction and operation of the battery factory. Another £320 million is coming from private investment and fresh equity from AESC. On top of all that, the government’s Automotive Transformation Fund is pitching in with £150 million in grant funding.
This deal follows closely on the heels of the new UK-US trade agreement announced a day earlier, which cuts car export tariffs from 27.5% down to 10% for up to 100,000 UK-made vehicles – nearly the total number exported last year. That move could save car companies hundreds of millions of pounds and help protect good-paying jobs in manufacturing hubs like Sunderland.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves visited AESC in Sunderland, where she met with staff and local leaders to discuss what this means for the Northeast and the British car industry.
“This investment follows hot on the heels of yesterday’s landmark economic deal with the US, which will save thousands of jobs in the industry,” Reeves said.
Read more: UK unveils largest curbside EV charger installation of 6,000 ports
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It’s about the future of their jobs. Ford workers at two plants in western Germany are set to go on strike on Wednesday, their works council chief said on Monday.
Ford is facing a worker strike in Germany
In November, Ford announced it would cut around 4,000 jobs in Europe by 2027 as part of a restructuring, primarily in Germany and the UK. That’s still about 14% of its European workforce.
The American automaker said the move comes after it has incurred “significant losses” in recent years and a “highly disruptive market” with new EVs quickly gaining market share.
Ford blamed slower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles and a weak economic situation. It also plans to slow production at its Cologne EV plant, where the electric Explorer and Capri are built.
Last week, IG Metall members voted in favor of “industrial action” with 93.5% of votes in favor of a strike. “Ford must act now—otherwise, we will go through with it,” said Kerstin D. Klein, Chief Representative of IG Metall Cologne-Leverkusen.
Ford is facing an influx of new competition, including Chinese EV makers like BYD. BYD’s overseas sales are surging with a fifth straight month of growth in April.
BYD even outsold Tesla in Germany last month, with 1,566 vehicles registered. In comparison, Tesla had just 855, and Ford saw 9,534 registrations.
On top of this, Ford, like most of the industry, is preparing for more disruption with Trump’s auto tariffs. After releasing Q1 earnings last week, Ford warned that the tariffs could cost up to $2.5 billion this year.
During Ford’s earnings call, CFO Sherry House said that recent EV launches in Europe, including the Explorer, Capri, and Puma Gen-E, helped more than double Model e’s wholesale volume in Q1.
After early success in the US, Ford also launched its “Power Promise” promotion in Europe, offering EV buyers a free home charger and several other perks.
Source: Reuters
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