The Electric Vehicle (EV) discussion thread (Merged)

After seeing the EV’s being rolled out at Chiba’s latest car show, we are so far behind we are Cuba. Now China is rolling out the semi solid state batteries with 900v fast charging and battery swap stations. The gap is about to get so big the new 100% protectionist tariffs just announced still wont be enough.

I saw that. As someone that's truly naïve to how tariffs like this benefits the American economy, why exactly is the purpose? It seems it would stifle innovation to not allow competition from all over the world. Is there a good reason or is the answer purely politics?