Man brags about hunts, portrays self as outdoor celebrity, then is busted

David Strege
Thu, 13 June 2024

ASSHOLE

A man who suggested that his hunting exploits should be featured on outdoor TV shows was sentenced as a big-game poacher, and trespasser.

Jason Smith, 29, illegally killed four elk, four black bears and five black-tailed deer in Western Washington and bragged on social media about his tracking and killing prowess, and posted photos of his kills, the Washington Department of Wildlife announced.

Smith was charged with two felony counts of first-degree unlawful hunting of big game, 27 gross misdemeanor charges of second-degree unlawful hunting of big game, unlawful black bear baiting and unlawful waste of wildlife; and three misdemeanor charges of unlawful hunting or retrieving wildlife from private property.

A King County judge sentenced Smith to 80 hours of community service and fined him $8,000.

WDFW Police began investigating Smith in early 2021 upon seeing his multitude of successful harvest posts on social media, believing early on that the suspect had illegally killed multiple elk in the North Bend area of King County.

During the next 1½ years, officers obtained numerous search warrants for social media and mapping tools, gathering evidence of the suspect’s poaching activities.

From the WDFW:

In numerous cases, Smith used illegal means to bait deer, elk, and black bear as well as trespassed onto private property to poach or retrieve illegally killed animals. In one case, he left an elk carcass to waste after another person found the poached elk before he could retrieve it.

Smith posted photos of his exploits on social media and told friends about his tracking and killing prowess, suggesting he should be featured on extreme outdoor TV shows. In reality, much of the wildlife he poached was baited into his yard or poached on his neighbor’s property. In a text message obtained during the warrant, Smith also said he would kill another elk for a friend that hadn’t shot one yet if he got to keep the head to mount.

In the end, Officers served a search warrant at Smith’s residence and seized some of the wildlife parts, including meat. Other animals were seized from a taxidermist.

“Smith attempted to portray himself as a type of outdoor celebrity, using social media to boast, when in reality, there was nothing ethical about his actions,” said WDFW Captain Dan Chadwick.

“I commend our Officers’ hard work and ingenuity in completing this case. They are committed to ensuring safe and ethical opportunities while conserving our big game natural resources. We’d also like to thank the King County Prosecutors Office and the Attorney General’s Office Environmental Protection Division for their work on this case.”

Ford will no longer require dealers to invest $500,000+ just to sell EVs

Nora Naughton
Thu, 13 June 2024 

Ford is ending a controversial program that required dealers to invest between $500,000 and $1 million to sell EVs.

EV sales are now open to all Ford dealers without certification requirements.

The change comes after Ford over-estimated EV sales growth.

Ford dealers no longer need to invest up to $1 million in order to sell electric vehicles.

The Blue Oval is ending its controversial EV dealership program less than two years after it was first announced, Ford Chief Operating Officer Marin Gjaja told reporters Thursday, according to CNBC.

Ford dealers will no longer be required to invest in certification to get EVs on their lot, opening battery-electric sales to Ford's entire dealership network — a move Gjaja said is designed to grow Ford's EV sales.

The program, first announced in September 2022, asked dealers to spend between $500,000 and $1.2 million to become "EV Certified." The steep price included expensive DC fast-chargers for dealer lots to double as charging locations and EV training for staff.

This rigorous buy-in program was built on optimistic EV sales forecasts that dealers would make back their investments as electric-car popularity increased. But a lot has changed in the US EV market since the fall of 2022, and growth in the segment hasn't played out as Ford initially expected, Gjaja said.

EV sales have slowed down in the past year. They are still on the rise but at a slower rate than the boom in growth that happened between 2020 and 2022. With wealthy early adopters largely sated, car companies are now trying to entice a new group of EV shoppers who are more frugal and practical.

Ford dealers were among the first to raise alarm bells about this slowdown when some stores started turning down Mustang Mach-E allocations last summer. Later, dealers started reporting issues with F-150 Lightning demand — further eroding Ford's relationship with its dealers.

Since then, Ford and other major automakers have gone back to the drawing board on their EV strategies.

Even before this slowdown in EV sales, many Ford dealers were unhappy with the high price of entry for selling electric cars. Several dealer associations filed lawsuits related to the program. In one case, an Illinois board ruled in favor of the dealers' claim that Ford's EV certification program violated state laws.

As of December of last year, a little more than half of Ford's nearly 3,000 US dealers had opted out of the EV investment requirements, an early sign that the program had backfired.

Ford's dealers will still need to make some investments to support EV sales on their lots, but they will no longer be held to the minimum $500,000 investment.

Ford vice chair John Lawler on EVs, 2024 profits, and why the automaker never abandoned hybrids

Pras Subramanian
·Senior Reporter
Sat, 15 June 2024 

Ford (F) is having a strong sales year in the US, with deliveries up 11% in the month of May, driven by a nearly 65% boost in hybrid sales from a year ago. Even electric vehicle sales are strong.

The sales success comes after a big transformation in the company last year. New vice chair John Lawler, Ford’s former CFO, played a big part in the company’s Ford+ plan, which split the automaker’s reporting structure into three units: its traditional gas-powered business (Ford Blue), commercial business (Ford Pro), and EVs (Model e).

While the EV business has seen higher costs and softer consumer demand, the company is still bullish on battery EVs. Yahoo Finance spoke to Lawler at the Deutsche Bank Global Autos Conference in midtown Manhattan this week, where Lawler gave investors and analysts an update on Ford’s 2024 outlook. Here are the edited excerpts:

John Lawler, then Ford's Chief Financial Officer, rings the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City last year. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)

Pras Subramanian: Ford had a strong sales month in May, powered by not just traditional ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles but also hybrids. Did Ford envision that a year ago at the delivering Ford+ event? EVs were the big push then but look at hybrid sales now. How do you explain that?

John Lawler: Yeah, so when you think about hybrids with Ford, we've been in hybrids for over 20 years. We're No. 3 in the US in hybrids right now. Now our hybrid sales are going to grow 40% this year; you can't just turn that on with a switch. So all the narrative and hype had been around EVs, but we never walked away from hybrids. We always had those in the plan. They were always funded, and you're seeing that now, as the demand has increased, we have the capacity to provide for consumers, and you're seeing that take place.

We're seeing the demand story for EVs slow down a bit, but Ford's EV sales are still quite strong. What's your take on that and how Ford can bridge the gap to EV profitability?

So the way we think about EVs is it's not a matter of if, it's when and how fast. And so we did see a slowdown relative to what people expected, but I think there was a false signal coming out of COVID of how quick demand was going to grow.

That was because of the early adopters — they were really excited about having the choice of electric vehicles. Then we get to the early majority. They're not willing to put up with some of the other issues that you might have with an EV around range and those types of things. So choice is important, and it's coming through where you have hybrids, where you have plug-in hybrids. Other technologies are coming along as well that I think will help that transition. So I think you're going to see the growth continue, [but] it's going be a little bit slower than what we've seen in the past.

Of course, for us, getting to profitability is key. With our segmentation, you can see exactly how we're performing in the EV space, and we have plans to improve that primarily with our second generation of vehicles, where we'll see step function changes in the cost and performance of the vehicles. And that's where we think we'll really start to gain traction from a business standpoint for our electric vehicles.

"I think you're going to see the growth continue": A Ford electric F-150 truck is displayed outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 23, 2023 in New York City. Ford held an event to explain its current operations including plans to reorganize its business units. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

So real profitability may come in those second-generation software-defined types of EVs?

Exactly. The cost structure of those vehicles is going to improve dramatically through battery technologies, efficiency of design, et cetera. That’s because [with] our first generation vehicles, to get to market quickly, we converted gas vehicles into electric vehicles. These [second-gen EVs) are ground-up platforms designed specifically to be EVs.

You’re talking about 2024 shaping up to be a strong sales year. Do you see that $10 billion to 12 billion adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) target in play?

When we came out of the first quarter, we had guided that we would be at the high end of that range. And so that's where our guidance sits right now.

I’ve known you as the CFO, grinding those numbers and financial metrics, but now you have more of a strategic role in the business. I know you used to work in Europe and Asia, and now you’re going to leverage some of those roots, right? What's the new role going to entail, and how do you make Ford more efficient from an operational point of view?

It's really around strategic initiatives. The level of change in this industry is unprecedented right now. You have the propulsion changes, moving from gas to electrification, and electrification is going to take many forms, as we're starting to see develop. You also then have the digital technologies in the platform. So I'm going to be focusing on which technologies we're going move into alliances, and as you said, partnerships are going to be key.

One of the issues with this industry has been capital efficiency, and a way you work through more capital-efficient structures is through partnerships and sharing some of that capital footprint. So we're going to focus on that. And then, of course, I've worked all over the world. I spent six years in China. I've worked in Europe. I've worked in Japan. And I think I can add a lot of value working with governments and their leaders on the policies and how Ford can help and how Ford's going to interface in those markets.

Is Ford still focused on China? Is it more of a joint-venture situation?

Well, we've always had joint ventures in China, and we have two - one in commercial vehicles, one for passenger vehicles. They're really important partners for us. I love our strategy in China. It's capital light, we're profitable in China, we're exporting from China, we're growing from that market base. So we have a lot of possibilities in China, and I'm excited about the future there.

Fauci In New Book: Trump Screamed At Me, Told Me He Loved Me

BIPOLAR SOCIOPATHIC NARCCISITIC LIAR

Lydia O'Connor
Fri, June 14, 2024 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who advised the federal government on its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, detailed his whiplash-inducing relationship with Donald Trump in his new memoir.

Excerpts from the book, “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service,” were shared Thursday by several media outlets the week before its scheduled release.

The book’s chapter about Trump, titled, “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not,” recounts the doctor’s time working as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ― a position he held for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2022. About 70 of the book’s 450 pages are focused on Trump, the New York Times reported.

Much of their relationship, Fauci wrote, involved Trump alternately praising him then excoriating him for things he’d said about the COVID-19 pandemic. In one June 2020 phone call from Trump, the former president unleashed his fury on him for saying the virus’ vaccine was unlikely to provide lifetime protection and would probably require boosters, according to book excerpts obtained by the Daily Beast.

Dr. Anthony Fauci appears beside Donald Trump at a 2020 press briefing on COVID-19. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images

“The president was irate, saying that I could not keep doing this to him. He said he loved me, but the country was in trouble, and I was making it worse,” Fauci reportedly wrote, noting that the then-president’s comments to him were often laden with expletives.

“I have a pretty thick skin, but getting yelled at by the president of the United States, no matter how much he tells you that he loves you, is not fun,” he recalled, according to excerpts quoted by the Times.

In his last conversation with Trump shortly before the 2020 election, Fauci reportedly wrote, Trump insisted he’d beat now-President Joe Biden and used some some colorful language to describe the Democrat.

“I am going to win this election by a fucking landslide,” Trump said, according to Fauci’s book. “Just wait and see. I always did things my way. And I always win, no matter what all these other fucking people think. And that fucker Biden. He is so fucking stupid. I am going to kick his fucking ass in this election.”

The longtime scientist went on to serve as Biden’s chief medical adviser until his retirement.

Fauci also said Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, was abnormally deferential to Trump.

“Vice presidents are almost always publicly loyal to the president. That is part of the job. But in my opinion, Vice President Pence sometimes overdid it,” he wrote, per the Times. “During task force meetings, he often said some version of, ‘There are a lot of smart people around here, but we all know that the smartest person is upstairs.’”

Fauci recently appeared before the House COVID-19 committee, whose Republican members have repeatedly suggested he masterminded a cover-up of the virus’s origins. Those claims, Fauci told the lawmakers, are “absolutely false and simply preposterous.”

His book is out on June 18.
Related...

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Fauci recounts expletive-laden lecture he got from Trump when stock market didn’t increase enough on vaccine news

Katie Hawkinson
Fri, June 14, 2024 


Anthony Fauci (left) and Donald Trump (right) speak. Fauci writes in a new book that Trump went on an expletive-filled rant directed at him during the pandemic (AFP)


President Donald Trump unleashed an expletive-filled rant about the stock market not increasing enough when the first Covid-19 vaccine trials were successful, Dr Anthony Fauci has recounted.

Fauci, one of the nation’s top infectious disease experts who helped lead the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic until through 2022, is publishing On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service next week. His chapter on working with Trump during the pandemic is aptly titled, “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not,” according to The New York Times’ review of the book.

Fauci wrote the former president directed expletive-filled rants towards him when the stock market didn’t well enough to the Covid-19 vaccine: “The president was irate, saying that I could not keep doing this to him.”

“He said he loved me, but the country was in trouble, and I was making it worse,” he continued. “He added that the stock market went up only 600 points in response to the positive Phase 1 vaccine news, and it should have gone up 1,000 points, and so I cost the country ‘one trillion dollars.’”

Fauci noted Trump added an expletive to his rant.

Anthony Fauci (left) and Donald Trump (right) speak. Fauci writes in a new book that Trump went on an expletive-filled rant directed at him during the pandemic (AFP)

“I have a pretty thick skin but getting yelled at by the president of the United States, no matter how much he tells you that he loves you, is not fun,” Fauci wrote, per the Times.

The physician also criticized Mike Pence’s support of Trump during the pandemic, according to the Times.

“Vice presidents are almost always publicly loyal to the president,” Fauci wrote. “That is part of the job. But in my opinion, Vice President Pence sometimes overdid it. During task force meetings, he often said some version of, ‘There are a lot of smart people around here, but we all know that the smartest person is upstairs.’”

Fauci notes other odd details about the former president, the Times reports, including that Trump once said he had never received a flu shot.

“When I asked [Trump] why, he answered, ‘Well, I’ve never gotten the flu. Why did I need a flu shot?’ I did not respond,” Fauci wrote.

Recently, Fauci was in the national spotlight again as he testified before a Republican-led Congressional committee about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the public portion of the hearing, right-wing Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene inexplicably accused the top infectious disease expert of practicing “evil science,” calling for Fauci’s license to be revoked.


Fauci wrote in upcoming memoir that Trump yelled expletives at him in a phone call in 2020

Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
Sat, June 15, 2024 

Scroll back up to restore default view.


WASHINGTON —Dr. Anthony Fauci wrote in his upcoming memoir that former President Donald Trump went into an expletive-filled rant with him during a phone call in 2020 but at the same time said he loved him, the New York Times reported.

The phone call came during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump, then the president, would downplay the effects of COVID-19 and repeatedly attacked Fauci for the guidelines he set forth to the public in navigating the virus.

In his memoir, “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service,” Fauci wrote that during the call Trump “was irate, saying that I could not keep doing this to him” and dropped F-bombs, according to the New York Times and the Daily Beast.

“He said he loved me, but the country was in trouble, and I was making it worse,” Fauci wrote. “He added that the stock market went up only 600 points in response to the positive Phase 1 vaccine news, and it should have gone up 1,000 points, and so I cost the country ‘one trillion dollars.’”

He added that, “I have a pretty thick skin, but getting yelled at by the president of the United States, no matter how much he tells you that he loves you, is not fun.”

Republicans in Congress have floated a number of conspiracy theories involving Fauci related to the COVID-19 pandemic. During a House hearing earlier this month, Fauci defended himself against those allegations.

“Whenever somebody gets up, whether it's a news media – you know Fox News does it a lot – or it's somebody in the Congress who gets up and makes a public statement that I'm responsible for the deaths of X number of people because of policies or some crazy idea that I created the virus, immediately it's like clockwork – the death threats go way up," he said.

His memoir is expected to be released this month.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fauci said Trump dropped F-bombs at him in phone call during pandemic


Fauci Speaks His Mind on Trump’s Rages and Their ‘Complicated’ Relationship

Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Sat, June 15, 2024 at 8:03 a.m. MDT·5 min read

Dr. Anthony Fauci, at his home in Washington, Sept. 9, 2021. (Jason Andrew/The New York Times)


WASHINGTON — Three months into the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci was at home in northwest Washington when he answered his cellphone to President Donald Trump screaming at him in an expletive-laden rant. He had incurred the president’s wrath by remarking that the vaccines under development might not provide long-lasting immunity.

That was the day, June 3, 2020, “that I first experienced the brunt of the president’s rage,” Fauci writes in his forthcoming autobiography.

Fauci has long been circumspect in describing his feelings toward Trump. But in the book, “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service,” he writes with candor about their relationship, which he describes as “complicated.”

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In a chapter titled “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not,” Fauci described how Trump repeatedly told him he “loved” him while at the same time excoriating him with tirades flecked with four-letter words.

“The president was irate, saying that I could not keep doing this to him,” Fauci wrote. “He said he loved me, but the country was in trouble, and I was making it worse. He added that the stock market went up only 600 points in response to the positive Phase 1 vaccine news, and it should have gone up 1,000 points, and so I cost the country ‘one trillion dollars.’” (The president added an expletive.)

“I have a pretty thick skin,” Fauci added, “but getting yelled at by the president of the United States, no matter how much he tells you that he loves you, is not fun.”

The book, which will be released Tuesday, traces the arc of Fauci’s life, from his boyhood in Brooklyn as a son of first-generation Italian Americans (his father was a pharmacist, and the family lived above the “Fauci Pharmacy”) through his 54-year career at the National Institutes of Health, 38 of them as the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

It is 450 pages long, and Fauci devotes about 70 of them to the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, when Trump was in office. His criticisms of Trump and his White House are at times blunt and at other times oblique, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions.

Fauci served under seven presidents, shepherding the nation through infectious disease threats including AIDS, swine flu, anthrax and Ebola. But the coronavirus pandemic turned him into a polarizing public figure and a target of Republicans, particularly Trump’s most ardent supporters.

During a tense hearing this month before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Fauci forcefully denied Republican allegations that he had helped fund research that started the pandemic or had covered up the possibility that it originated in a laboratory. He called the accusations “absolutely false and simply preposterous.”

In Fauci’s telling, the Trump White House was different from any other he had experienced, not least because of its passing relationship with the truth. Trump, he wrote, “shocked me on Day 1 of his presidency, with his disregard of facts such as the size of the crowd at his inauguration” and his “aggressive disrespect for the press.”

Those differences extended to the relationship between Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, the chair of the White House coronavirus response task force.

“Vice presidents,” Fauci wrote, “are almost always publicly loyal to the president. That is part of the job. But in my opinion, Vice President Pence sometimes overdid it. During task force meetings, he often said some version of, ‘There are a lot of smart people around here, but we all know that the smartest person is upstairs.’”

Then, without explicitly saying Pence was referring to Trump, Fauci wrote, “He was of course talking about the man sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.”

Fauci also makes clear he had little use for some of Trump’s advisers: his chief of staff, Mark Meadows; his chief economic adviser, Peter Navarro; and his medical adviser, Scott Atlas. He said Trump’s aides were feeding negative stories about him to journalists in 2020.

“The growing White House hostility toward me over the spring and summer seemed to trigger at least in part the overt attacks on me by right-wing media and trolls using social media platforms,” Fauci wrote. That August, he opened a letter containing a “fine white powder” and “instantly feared anthrax or worse.” Hazmat teams were called into his office at the National Institutes of Health; a few days later, the FBI confirmed the powder was harmless.

Fauci’s first encounter with Trump was before the coronavirus pandemic, at a White House ceremony where the president signed an executive order that called for improvements in the manufacturing and distribution of flu vaccines. After the event, Trump remarked to Fauci that he had never had a flu shot.

“When I asked him why, he answered, ‘Well, I’ve never gotten the flu. Why did I need a flu shot?’ I did not respond,” Fauci wrote. The implication was clear: The doctor was flabbergasted to discover that Trump knew so little about the purpose of vaccines.

On the morning of Jan. 29, 2020, Fauci wrote, conservative political commentator Lou Dobbs, whom the doctor had known for years, called to say Trump wanted to meet him. Several hours later, Fauci found himself in the White House Situation Room, briefing the president and his top advisers on a new virus that was circulating in China. It was instantly clear to Fauci, the scientist from Brooklyn, that he and Trump, the president from Queens, could relate to each other in the way that only New Yorkers can.

“He had a New York swagger that I instantly recognized — a self-confident, backslapping charisma that reminded me of my days in New York,” Fauci wrote.

But that is where the kinship ended. Fauci wrote that when Trump embraced hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, as a COVID-19 treatment on the basis of anecdotal evidence, he realized that “sooner or later I would have to refute him publicly.”

He painted the president as consumed with television ratings and the economy; after one coronavirus briefing in March 2020, Trump summoned Fauci into the Oval Office and called Fox News personality Sean Hannity. Fauci recalled the moment: “‘Hey, Sean,’ he said on speakerphone. ‘You should see the ratings we have!’”

c.2024 The New York Times Company

Greene alleges Fauci committed ‘crimes against humanity’ with COVID response

(PROJECTION)

Yash Roy
Sat, June 15, 2024 







Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), speaking at a Turning Point Action conference on Saturday, vowed to have former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci sent to prison over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Dr. Anthony Fauci should be tried for crimes against humanity,” Greene said at the conference, in comments highlighted by Mediaite, leading to the crowd chanting, “lock him up.”

She responded, “Well I can assure that if I have anything to do with it, I will lock him up. He belongs in prison.”

Green also attacked President Biden and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during her speech.

“I’ll never forget when the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi, as speaker of the House, brought in nearly 30,000 National Guardsmen and turned our Capitol complex into a military base,” she told the audience. “They masked schoolchildren. They shut down schools. They closed beaches. They silenced your speech.”

Biden was not president at the time. The Trump administration, at the request of Congressional leaders, including Republican leaders Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), deployed the National Guard to secure the Capitol after supporters of Trump led an insurrection in the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Biden as president.

Greene has been accused of helping some of those insurrectionists by providing them with tours before January 6, 2021.

After taking over on January 20, 2021, Biden’s administration instituted a mask mandate on public transportation but did not impose a federal mask mandate.

Fauci has been a frequent target for conservatives who claim his advocacy for masking and social distance restricted freedoms and was ineffective, and have accused him of covering up the origins of the COVID-19 virus.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic called Fauci to testify at a heated hearing earlier this month, where Republicans accused Fauci of attempting to skirt federal Freedom of Information Act requests by using a private email server. Fauci denied the accusation.

At the hearing, Greene marked the most contentious moment of the hearing, with Democrats quickly calling for points of order after she refused to recognize Fauci as a doctor.

“Mr. Fauci, because you’re not doctor, you’re Mr. Fauci in my few minutes,” Greene said. “That man does not deserve to have a license. As a matter of fact, it should be revoked, and he belongs in jail,” Greene responded.

Fauci is set to release a book on June 18, and according to excerpts obtained by the New York Times, Fauci detailed his experience with Trump and his career. According to the Times, Fauci has a book entitled “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not,” in which he describes how Trump would alternate between telling him that he “loved” Fauci and then later screaming expletives at him.

The Hill.

The Narwhal, Toronto Star win Michener Award for work on Ontario Greenbelt scandal

ALTERNATIVE AND MAINSTREAM MEDIA 

The Canadian Press
Fri, June 14, 2024 

OTTAWA — The Narwhal and the Toronto Star have been named the winners of the 2023 Michener Award for their reporting about Ontario's Greenbelt scandal.

The Michener Awards Foundation says that throughout 2023, the magazine and newspaper revealed how "politically connected developers benefited from buying devalued farmland just before Premier Doug Ford lifted Greenbelt protection of those lands."

It says their investigation led to Ford "scrapping the plan to allow development on formerly protected Greenbelt lands and cost the government two ministers and two senior staffers."

The Canadian Press was nominated for a months-long investigation by reporter Darryl Greer that revealed a toxic workplace and allegations of sexual assault at Canada's spy agency.

CSIS director David Vigneault said it was an "extraordinary moment" for the agency while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the allegations "devastating."

The Michener Award was founded in 1970 by the late Roland Michener, then governor general, to honour excellence in public service journalism.

The other finalists this year included work by CBC/Radio-Canada on sex crime allegations against billionaire Robert Miller; by the Globe and Mail on Montreal fire safety; the Montreal Gazette on the suicide of a retired police officer in a hospital emergency room; and Radio-Canada on the dark side of Neptune.

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon recognized the finalists during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

"This year’s finalists have used their investigative talents to influence change within our communities," she said Friday.

"Each story being recognized tonight has made a difference. Each of your stories demonstrated the importance of journalism."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2024.

The Canadian Press

Building Nuclear Power Is a Bridge Too Far for World’s Private Investors

IT HAS NO FUTURE WITHOUT THEM 

CAUSE US TAXPAYERS AIN'T FOOTING THE BILL

Jonathan Tirone
Fri, 14 June 2024 





3 / 3

Building Nuclear Power Is a Bridge Too Far for World’s Private Investors



(Bloomberg) -- The next generation of nuclear reactors will need to be financed by taxpayers because private investors aren’t willing to bear the risks associated with building new plants.

Beaches on Singapore’s Sentosa Island Hit By Oil Spill

That was the warning from bankers at a meeting of industry and government officials in Prague this week. The Nuclear Energy Agency event underscored the hard decisions Western economies soon need to make to keep one of their biggest clean energy sources going. While the public have warmed to nuclear in recent years, spiraling project costs have made private equity cautious.


Officials have estimated that the world needs to spend $5 trillion to triple nuclear-power generation over the next 25 years. The problem is that years of delays and billion-dollar budget overruns at European and the US projects are spooking investors, and scores of reactors already running on borrowed time will need to be replaced. No private investors want to take on construction risks, said Simon Taylor, a financier at the Cambridge Nuclear Energy Centre.

“We’re at a critical juncture of in the history of nuclear energy,” said William Magwood, director general of the Nuclear Energy Agency. “We have to move quickly. Financing is critical.”

Earlier this year, Electricite de France SA said its nuclear project at Hinkley Point in the UK would cost as much as £10 billion ($13 billion) extra to build and take several years longer than planned. In the US, Southern Co.’s Vogtle nuclear facility came in more than $16 billion over budget and seven years behind schedule.

“Unfortunately, the nuclear industry has been its own worst enemy,” said Anurag Gupta, chief risk officer at Sequoia Investment Management Co.

While some private capital has gone toward designing small modular reactors — factory-built units theoretically cheaper to build than traditional plants — those projects have also been plagued by delays pushing full commercialization years later than expected. That leaves nuclear advocates struggling for investor support with the technology at hand.

Rothschild & Co.’s Steven Vaughan, an adviser for UK’s proposed Sizewell C nuclear plant, echoed the view that investors are wary of taking on exposure to construction risk.

Equity investment interest in Sizewell, currently owned by the UK government and minority stakeholder EDF, has been muted, with Centrica Plc suggesting it could become a stakeholder.

Compounding nuclear power project risks are the long life span of the assets and the uncertain development of electricity markets. Historically, nations alleviated that risk by building reactors themselves. That’s still the case in China and Russia — the two countries building the most plants.

“It’s hard for any investor to think about market design 50 years into the future,” said Iain Smedley, chairman of global banking at Barclays Plc. “It’s therefore very important they’re comfortable with the social contract.”

Some delegates in Prague suggested economies need to think about nuclear power beyond simply profit and loss. It’s an emissions-free energy source that can help meet climate targets, as well as supporting a skilled workforce.

“There is a vast need for state involvement,” said Marcin Kaminski, risk manager building Poland’s first reactors at Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe.

 Bloomberg Businessweek


U.S. Pushes to Triple Nuclear Energy Production by 2050

Editor OilPrice.com
Sat, 15 June 2024 at 11:00 am GMT-6·3-min read


This Monday Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that she intends to reopen a nuclear power plant to meet the state’s decarbonization goals. If she is successful in her campaign, it would mark the first time in United States history that a nuclear power plant has been brought back online after being decommissioned – but it more than likely won’t be the last.

The owner of the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, which currently sits dormant on the shores of Lake Michigan, received a conditional loan guarantee for a whopping $1.52 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office to help fund the plant’s revival. If Holtec, the company that owns the plant, meets all of the closing conditions, the Palisades plant would be just the second or third plant in the entire world to be re-commissioned. And they plan to do it by just 2025.

Reopening the plant would not only be a trailblazing boon for low-carbon energy production in the United States, it also stands to offer a huge economic boost to Michiganders, who lost more than 600 high-paying jobs, many unionized, when the plant shuttered in May 2022. Whitmer says that if the plant is restarted, it could bring in $363 million in much-needed regional economic impact.

Although the United States has the top-producing nuclear energy fleet in the world, the country’s nuclear power sector has been in decline for years. The average age of a nuclear reactor in the United States is about 42 years old. Around one dozen nuclear power reactors have closed in the United States since 2013, and according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 22 commercial nuclear power reactors (out of 93 total reactors) at 18 sites are in various stages of decommissioning. Meanwhile just one new power plant – Georgia’s plant Vogtle – has been added to the national fleet in the last several decades. And at present, zero new reactors are under construction in the United States.

The United States will have to see a radical repositioning and revitalization of the nuclear power sector if it is to meet its own global pledges, which includes a commitment to triple nuclear power production by 2050. At last year’s COP28 global climate conference, the United States was one of more than 20 countries that cooperated to launch the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy.

Building new power plants is extremely cost-prohibitive, however. And Plant Vogtle has shown just how expensive and exhausting building up a new nuclear fleet could be. First approved in 2009, it has only just reached completion, with its fourth reactor finally coming online on April 29, 2024, when it officially became the most expensive infrastructure project of any kind in U.S. history, at a whopping $35 billion. “The project has been such a bloated disaster that many pundits think it could be make-or-break for the wholesale future of the United States nuclear sector,” Oilprice reported in April.

So instead of investing hundreds of billions of dollars into building out a new nuclear fleet from the ground up, why not bring a fully formed industry back from the grave? Or better yet, if the country is to have any hope of meeting that lofty triple nuclear energy pledge, why not both? Many of the defunct nuclear power plants in the United States are too far gone to restart, but even rebuilding a new reactor on the same site would be a huge advantage for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. “So you don’t have to go through the whole rigamarole again, you can just use the existing footprint to be able to increase generation capacity,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was recently quoted by Fast Company.

Building new reactors as an expansion of existing plants can be another cost-effective alternative, which many companies are already taking advantage of. Granholm says that about 30 such power plant sites across the country have already been licensed or permitted for the construction of more reactors.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

UK

Labour commit to HIV Action Plan and ‘trans-inclusive’ conversion therapy ban in election manifesto

Jamie Tabberer
Thu, 13 June 2024

Keir Starmer's at today's Labour manifesto launch (Image: Labour)

Today, in their General Election manifesto, Labour announced it would commission a new HIV Action Plan in England and implement a ‘trans-inclusion ban’ on so-called conversion therapy.

The manifesto also states that Labour will ‘protect LGBT+ and disabled people by making all existing strands of hate crime an aggravated offence.’

Elsewhere, it says Labour will ‘modernise, simplify, and reform the intrusive and outdated gender recognition law to a new process,’ adding: ‘Labour is proud of our Equality Act and the rights and protections it affords women; we will continue to support the implementation of its single-sex exceptions.’

It adds: ‘We are currently on the cusp of eradicating new cases of HIV. Labour will commission a new HIV action plan in England, in pursuit of ending HIV cases by 2030.’

Party leader Keir Starmer unveiled the manifesto, heavily focused on economic growth and wealth creation, at a launch event in Greater Manchester today (Thursday 13 June 2024).

Labour’s election manifesto: what it says about LGBTQ issues

‘Delivering opportunities for all means that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. Labour will protect LGBT+ and disabled people by making all existing strands of hate crime an aggravated offence.

‘So-called conversion therapy is abuse – there is no other word for it – so Labour will finally deliver a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, while protecting the freedom for people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity.

‘We will also modernise, simplify, and reform the intrusive and outdated gender recognition law to a new process. We will remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition and acceptance; whilst retaining the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a specialist doctor, enabling access to the healthcare pathway.

‘Labour is proud of our Equality Act and the rights and protections it affords women; we will continue to support the implementation of its single-sex exceptions.’

Conversion therapy refers to the scientifically-debunked practise of trying to change someone’s sexuality and/or gender identity.

The UK’s leading HIV charity, Terrence Higgins Trust, say a new HIV Action Plan for England is “essential” in achieving the Government’s ambition to end new HIV cases by 2030.

The current HIV Action Plan is due to expire in 2025. As it stands, the UK are not on track to meet the necessary target of reducing new transmissions by 80% within 12 months. The charity affirms that a new HIV Action Plan is “exactly what is needed.”

Labour will face the Tories at the polls in the General Election on 4 July 2024.
“Ending new cases of HIV in the UK by 2030 is possible but not probable”

Richard Angell, Chief Executive at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “With just one parliament left to deliver the UK’s commitment to end new HIV cases by 2030, this important commitment in the Labour Party’s manifesto of a new HIV action plan in England to ensure we do not miss this historic opportunity is excellent news.

“The government’s current HIV action plan expires next year, which is why today’s announcement from Labour is exactly what is needed. Ending new cases of HIV in the UK by 2030 is possible but not probable – a renewed HIV Action Plan which is bold and ambitious is essential to us achieving this historic goal.

“We are clear on what this new plan needs to include – increasing HIV testing, expanding PrEP access and ensuring everyone living with HIV gets the care they need. In two years, the opt-out HIV testing in A&Es programme has found more than 5,000 people with HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis in just four cities, and soon 47 more hospitals across England will be testing thanks to an expansion this year.

“This pioneering programme is essential to halting HIV transmission in the UK. Waiting times for PrEP average more than 12 weeks and 14,000 diagnosed people are not taking their medication. To be the generation of MPs to end the HIV epidemic and a government that makes it happen in office, we have to turn this around. Get it right and we could be the first country in the world to end new HIV cases. What a legacy that would be.”

According to a party statement, Labour “plans to deliver economic stability, cut NHS waiting times, launch a new Border Security Command, set up Great British Energy, crackdown on antisocial behaviour and recruit 6,500 new teachers” should it win the election.

The post Labour commit to HIV Action Plan and ‘trans-inclusive’ conversion therapy ban in election manifesto appeared first on Attitude.

Green Party removes HIV image from online manifesto after backlash

Joe Middleton
Fri, 14 June 2024 

The Green Party manifesto includes pledges “no more HIV transmissions by 2030” (Isabel Infantes/PA) (PA Wire)


The Green Party has removed an image of a coughing man from its online manifesto after a backlash over its depiction of people with HIV.

The image appeared in an easy read version of the environmentalist party’s manifesto in the section describing its pledge to end HIV transmission by 2030.

However, the left-wing party were accused of being “misleading” for using the image by social media users.

One person said: “Not @TheGreenParty using this diagram in their easy read manifesto on their HIV commitment. Maybe a slight implication that people living with HIV are sick (and… dare I say, airborne contagious). Which would be incorrect.”

Luke Robert Black, the chairman of LGBT+ Conservatives, posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Any implication that HIV+ people are “contagious” (esp. airborne) is wrong and misleading. So long as you are on effective treatment, you cannot pass HIV on.”

Easy read documents are produced to help make text easier to understand and can be helpful for people with learning difficulties.

In its manifesto launched on Wednesday, the Green Party pledged “no more HIV transmissions by 2030”.

It said this will involve giving people access to the “HIV prevention pill online, in pharmacies and from GP services, and renewing successful opt-out HIV testing programmes in A&Es in all areas with a high prevalence of HIV”.

On the easy-read version the image of the unwell man has now been replaced by a hand holding a pill.

A spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales said: “Soon after publication we were alerted to how an image we used in our easy-read manifesto could be misinterpreted.

“For clarity we temporarily took the manifesto down to replace this image with a more suitable image that better communicates our policy to work towards no more HIV transmissions by 2030.”

According to HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust, the most recent UK-wide figures indicated around 106,890 people were living with HIV in the UK in 2019.

In 2021, a further 2,692 people were diagnosed with HIV in England, 218 in Scotland, and 60 in Wales.

‘Union,’ Award-Winning Doc About Extraordinary Bid To Organize Amazon Workers, Announces October Theatrical Release

Matthew Carey
Fri, 14 June 2024 at 12:28 pm GMT-6·4-min read


EXCLUSIVE: The award-winning documentary Union, about the first successful unionization drive at an Amazon warehouse, has been making the rounds of film festivals – it just held its U.K. premiere at Sheffield DocFest, and on Saturday it plays at DC/DOX in the nation’s capital. In a matter of months, the film will reach its widest audience yet, through a self-distribution plan announced today.

Level Ground Productions has set an October 18 release date in theaters for the film directed by Brett Story and Stephen Maing. “Recognizing the difficulties faced by political documentaries in distribution of late,” a release notes, “but also the enthusiastic and engaged potential audiences that are inspired by the Amazon Labor Union movement, producers Story, Maing, Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone, and Martin DiCicco have worked with distribution expert Michael Tuckman to self distribute the film theatrically.”

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Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls.

The documentary centers on a long-shot bid by Chris Smalls and other employees at an Amazon facility on Staten Island, New York to form a union. The Jeff Bezos-founded company fiercely opposed the effort.

“On April 1, 2022 a group of ordinary workers (the ALU) in Staten Island made history when they did what everyone thought was impossible: they successfully won their election to become the very first unionized Amazon workplace in America, with no prior organizing experience, no institutional backing, and a total budget of $120,000 raised on GoFundMe,” states a description of the film. “Union focuses on the journey of the worker-turned-organizers, described by ALU President Christian Smalls as the ‘N.W.A. of the organizing world,’ whose highly unconventional journey goes from wearing Money Heist costumes at press conferences to distributing free marijuana to workers.”

The synopsis continues, “The film shows the group through political battles, pivotal strategic events, and interpersonal tensions that test their commitments and their solidarity. Up against a corporate superpower and with legal protections at a drastic low for workers, all odds are against the ALU – who yet remain unswayed in their beliefs in collective action and the dignity and power of the working-class.”

Union premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Award for Art of Change. If one thing could have been predicted at that point, it was that Union wouldn’t be acquired by Amazon (unless for a possible “catch and kill” scenario). But one has to wonder whether the labor-empowerment theme might have scared off other potential high profile distributors.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joins Amazon labor organizer Chris Smalls at a rally on the eve of the union election for the LDJ5 Amazon Sort Center on April 24, 2022 in Staten Island, New York.

“As automation, surveillance, quotas and anti-unionization efforts become the norm, we set out to make a film that would intimately capture a rare view of the extraordinary efforts of worker-turned-organizers taking action at this crucial moment,” Maing said in a statement. “And while corporate consolidations within the distribution landscape narrow opportunities for bold, independent new work, we are thrilled to self-distribute Union theatrically with the expertise of Michael Tuckman and brilliant impact strategists Red Owl Partners and bring this film directly to film loving audiences as well as the workers and organizers directly impacted by the story of this film.”

Story commented, “The past few years have seen a resurgence of labor struggle and political organizing across generations and across sectors. We were so honored to be on the ground from day one of this exceptional unionization effort, and to be given such intimate access to the Amazon labor organizers, whose unlikely campaign is critically important to the future of the labor. At this moment in American history, this is a film that audiences will be excited to see.”

Union is a Level Ground Productions release, presented by Impact Partners, in association with Ford Foundation. The film is directed and produced by Stephen Maing and Brett Story; produced by Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone, Martin Dicicco. Executive producers include Jenny Raskin, Lauren Haber, Geralyn White Dreyfous, The Villa Family, David Levine, Jessica Grimshaw, Nick Shumaker, and Dawn Olmstead. Co-executive producers are Kesley Koenig, Barbara & Eric Dobkin, Paula Froehle & Steve Cohen, Natasha & David Dolby, Meryl Metni, Pierre Hauser, Peter Palandijian, Chelsea Halligan, Ryan Parker, Alexander Carpenter, and Andrew Neel.

Blair McClendon, Malika Zouhali-Worrall and Stephen Maing edited the film; cinematography is by Martin Dicicco and Stephen Maing. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe composed the score.

Together Films Launches Distribution Campaign Fund For Films Addressing Climate Crisis

Diana Lodderhose
Thu, 13 June 2024 


EXCLUSIVE: In advance of next week’s Sheffield DocFest, London and New York-based banner Together Films is launching a new Impact Distribution Campaign Fund & Accelerator dubbed Climate Action Together. The fund is designed to amplify powerful films addressing the climate crisis.

In its inaugural year, Climate Action Together will support two film teams whose works are set to launch across various platforms such as festivals, theatrical, non-theatrical, digital or broadcast between January 1, 2025 and June 30, 2025 with a £20,000 ($32,000) cash grant each alongside an in-depth four-month strategy phase and mentorship support.

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The fund is looking for applications from filmmakers committed to raising awareness about the climate crisis and advocating for actionable solutions and will target completed features (both scripted and documentary) aimed at inspiring public action and driving policy change in the UK and/or U.S. Current projects in post-production will be eligible if they are completed for public viewing by January 1, 2025.

“Solving the climate crisis requires a collaborative effort across industries and stakeholders,” said Sarah Mosses, Founder and CEO of Together Films. “We are looking for projects that not only highlight the severity of the situation, but also shine a light on innovative solutions and stories of hope. We want to see characters delivering fresh, actionable ideas and solutions that haven’t been seen on screen before. Our goal is to engage audiences in new and impactful ways.”

The fund launch, says Together Films, is partly in reaction to the growing need for filmmakers to access additional capital to support distribution costs, especially where it relates to impactful audiences. Selected film teams can use the grants to cover hard costs such as DCPs, advertising, organizing impact screenings or contribute towards staff working on the release. Applications are welcome from producers without sales or distribution representation.

The deadline for submissions is 5pm ET Wednesday, July 31, 2024 applications can be made here.

Veteran Rep. Spells Out Why She's 'Sick And Tired' Of GOP Colleagues' Abortion Stance

Ben Blanchet
Updated Fri, 14 June 2024

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), an Air Force veteran, slammed a majority of House Republicans on Thursday over their opposition to a Pentagon policy that reimburses service members for costs associated with travel to get an abortion.

Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) introduced an amendment, which was later adopted via a 214-207 vote, to the annual defense bill as she looked to the measure as a way to “return” to “protections” of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds on abortions.

“While my colleagues on the other side are taking the anti-woman stance of incentivizing abortions, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment to not only follow the law, enforce the law, but to do so while protecting the most vulnerable, the unborn,” Van Duyne said.

A pair of Republicans — Reps. John Duarte (R-Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) — voted against the amendment, while one Democrat — Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) — backed it.

Houlahan said it “truly saddens” her to have returned to the House floor “yet again” to have the same conversation with lawmakers as she had last year.

“Standing before this chamber as a woman, yet again. A woman who has actually served and actually worn a uniform and actually was a mother in uniform,” Houlahan said.

She added that she’s defending service members’ right to seek medical care when they’re serving the country before taking aim at GOP lawmakers.

“I’m sick and tired of members who have never served telling service members, the same service members they are proud to publicly express their purported support for, that they don’t deserve the financial or otherwise freedom to seek the medical care that they and their family members deserve and need when they need it,” Houlahan said.

The Pennsylvania Democrat later knocked lawmakers who served but “still don’t wish” to afford the ability for current service members to seek reproductive services.

“We should be supporting our family service members, not hindering them,” said Houlahan, who cited the MARCH for Military Servicemembers Act, which would expand abortion access.

GLOBALIZATION AND POST-FORDISM

Europe’s electric car tariffs sting China but won’t halt BYD’s advance

Analysis by Laura He, CNN
Thu, 13 June 2024 

China Daily/Reuters

After months of investigation, the European Union has announced additional tariffs on electric vehicles (EV) imported from China, because of what it sees as Beijing’s unfair support for companies that undercut European carmakers.

The decision deals a blow to the Chinese government, which had been lobbying hard against the taxes, and EV producers in the country. Most companies are facing hefty extra tariffs of between 17.4% and 38.1%, on top of the 10% duty already levied by the bloc.

The impact on China’s EV makers will vary depending on the level of tariff and each company’s cost structure. Those hardest hit may be forced to raise prices or set up factories in Europe.

And while Beijing is clearly unhappy, analysts say it’s unlikely to want to rush into a full-blown trade war with its second biggest trading partner, not least because of economic pressures at home.

For market leader BYD, which vies with Tesla as the world’s top producer of battery electric vehicles, there’s still space for it to grow in Europe, even with the additional duty, according to Gregor Sebastian, a senior analyst with the Rhodium Group.

Facing the lowest additional levy of 17.4%, BYD could emerge as a relative “winner,” he said. Duties at this level could even allow BYD to cut its already competitive prices to gain market share in Europe.

“BYD is already building a factory in Europe, is likely to still profitably export to the EU even with 17% duties, and can export plug-in hybrids without additional duties,” Sebastian said. The new tariffs only target battery EVs.

Rhodium said in April that BYD’s European profits are 45% higher than in China, meaning that market will still remain highly attractive even after the new tariffs are imposed.

China’s top market

Europe is key to Beijing’s EV ambitions. It overtook Asia as China’s largest EV export market in 2021. That helped propel China into pole position as the world’s No 1 car exporter.

“One critical issue for China is that the EU accounted for 38% of China’s EV exports in 2023,” Sebastian said. “China will not be able to reroute exports to other countries as potential alternatives like Brazil, Turkey and the US have also pulled up drawbridges.”

Last month, the United States quadrupled tariffs on EVs from China, from 25% to 100%, aiming to boost American jobs and manufacturing.

“The EU is the only market left that is both wealthy and large enough to absorb a meaningful amount of China’s excess production of EVs,” said Etienne Soula, a research analyst with Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The Chinese government has big dreams for the country’s EV industry, part of a broader strategy to surpass America in the global tech race.

It’s also trying to counter a property-induced economic slowdown and promote a low-carbon economy. EVs, along with photovoltaics and lithium-ion batteries, are seen by the government as the “new three” growth drivers that will play a pivotal role in shaping the country’s economic landscape.

In February, nine government agencies, including the Commerce Ministry and the central bank, vowed to provide support to accelerate Chinese EV makers’ global push.

Tesla prices to rise

In contrast to BYD, state-owned carmaker SAIC is in a “disastrous” situation facing 38.1% in additional tariffs, according to Sebastian.

EV sales in the EU accounted for 15% of the company’s total sales in 2023 and early 2024. The Shanghai-based automaker, which was China’s second largest seller of battery EVs, pug-in hybrids and fuel cell cars (NEVs) last year, will likely need to build a factory in Europe to bypass these duties.

Geely, China’s fourth largest NEV retailer and the owner of Volvo, faces 20% in additional duties, a penalty which is likely to be a “mixed bag,” Sebastian said. His analysis suggests Geely could still profitably export to the EU, but margins will narrow severely.

For Tesla (TSLA), which uses China as its base for global exports including to Europe, the situation is also tricky.

The European Commission said Wednesday that the EV giant may receive an individually calculated duty rate at a future stage following a request by the carmaker.

In a message posted to its website in several European countries Thursday, Tesla said it expected to have to raise prices for its Model 3 from July 1 because of the new tariffs.

Sebastian said additional duties above 21% would likely render Tesla’s exports from China to the EU uncompetitive.

Localization coming

The EU’s move is likely to hasten efforts by Chinese carmakers to set up factories in the region.

The “announcement is more likely to accelerate the extent to which Chinese [EV companies] and suppliers manufacture their products within Europe, something that we have already started to see,” said Andrew Bergbaum, global co-head of AlixPartners’ automotive & industrial practice.

BYD announced in December that it would build an EV factory in Hungary, becoming the first major Chinese automaker to build passenger cars in Europe.

While the tariffs would not be good news for consumers and cities with zero emission needs, “the establishment of new European-manufactured electric vehicles by Chinese companies would certainly be welcomed,” said Bergbaum.

However, it also means there will be more competition in a sector that already has too much capacity, leading to large scale disruptions of existing manufacturing sites as they “rebalance their resources”, he added.

UBS analysts, meanwhile, predicted on Wednesday that the number of Chinese manufacturers making inroads in the EU would become “more concentrated.”

Smaller players may become discouraged and give up, even as Chinese industry leaders press ahead. But they also expected Chinese companies to accelerate the location of assembly plants in the EU, a move which would be welcomed by EU member states like Hungry, Italy, and Spain.

Too much to lose

Ahead of the announcement, Beijing had dropped hints that it could retaliate.

Its ministries of commerce and foreign ministries each reiterated Wednesday that China would take “all necessary measures” to defend its interests.

Analysts, though, don’t believe there is a high chance of serious escalation.

“The situation is unlikely to develop into a full-blown trade war, both sides have too much to lose,” Sebastian said.

Soula said China could retaliate by imposing tariffs on some European goods such as luxury cars, premium brandies or airplane parts.

But given the economic pressures that China is already under, it has “limited room” for maneuver when responding to the EU.

Also, “there is still the possibility of (EU) countries who are skeptical of this investigation coming together to diminish the final level of the tariffs,” he said. “In this context, China may want to wait before going all out to avoid hardening attitudes in those member states.”

Currently provisional, the tariffs are due to be introduced on July 4 if discussions with Chinese authorities don’t lead to a mutual agreement.

CNN’s Hanna Ziady and Fred He contributed to reporting.

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