The Global Car Sector in a Single Chart
[Opinion] The US dominates tech, and is big in cars. But it still faces a massive deficit
Good Morning from Taipei,
Cars are tech. That’s the long and the short of it. We need to bury the notion that automobiles are merely part of the big greasy-collar industrial sector, and embrace the fact that automobiles and technology now go hand in hand.
Most of the advancements in autos over the past 20 years have come from the tech sector — software, semiconductors & electronics, and of course self-driving algorithms. And an increasing proportion of the tech sector is going to be devoted to transportation. Tesla — run by a member of the PayPal Mafia — is the prime example of this collision of industrial cultures.
Yet, although the US dominates the global technology sector, and is no slouch when it comes to cars, the nation is running a massive trade deficit in automobiles. Germany, Japan and China were the largest exporters last year, according to data compiled by the UN’s Comtrade. The US, Germany and the UK were the largest importers. On a net exports (well, imports) basis, the US stands alone.
US leadership in software, hardware and AI affords it every chance to catch up. But if policymakers want to right the ship, then maybe they need to spend less energy subsidizing ailing chip companies and hiking tariffs, and devote more effort to promoting comity between Detroit and Silicon Valley.
Thanks for reading
How would the marrying of Detroit and Silicon actually work? Are you suggesting that auto makers need to be more advanced or more cost effective?