>Them not launching in Europe gives the local market a chance to build up its own players

Exactly! This is what is genius about Trumps tariff strategy, as you correctly point out. Blocking Chinese EVs gives a chance to bully up local players.

local players in Europe or the United States have had 50, 60 years to build up to compete, Ford and GM in the United States, and Chrysler when they were around, didn’t learn anything after the oil embargo in 1972, 73.

They just continued on making bad cars, making no improvements, not adjusting to the new environment, other than begging the government to save them., US steel was the same way. Note the executives at the top of all these companies had no hesitation in blaming their workers on the production line for all their troubles.

The game plan is still not to compete. I sometimes wonder, I should say I believe that no one at Ford or GM at the top even cares about cars. There doesn’t seem to be any love whatsoever. It’s just another MBA at the top making a commodity.

One thing Europe has going for them is that there are a few car companies in Germany and Italy that seem to still care about the joy of driving, of making a good car, although that seems to be disappearing too.

Well, this is plain old protectionism and typically you down the line realize you're falling behind the rest of the market as your domestic products are not subject to the same competition. This is how China fell behind last time, with its reckoning in the beginning of the 20th century. It's hysterical that they have decided on doing the same thing again. It's hysterical that the US has decided to do so as well.