Chinese-made golf carts are taking over American courses, competitors say

The golf carts transporting frustrated Americans from shanked ball to shanked ball are increasingly becoming Chinese-made. US imports of Chinese golf carts and other recreational buggies have 6x’d over the past six years, rising from $148 million in 2020 to $916 million in 2023.

American manufacturers are asking the US government to intervene. On Friday, Club Car and Textron, which makes E-Z-GO and Cushman carts, filed a public comment with the US Trade Representative seeking 100% tariffs for Chinese competitors.

• The companies say Chinese golf carts and buggies have grown in popularity in the US partly because they’re shipped under a product classification where the tariff is lower than those coded as normal-sized EVs (which are about to be subject to an 100% tariff when coming from China). This allows the vehicles to cross the border at a lower tariff rate, then undergo modifications in the US, per the companies.
• Simultaneously, the companies say large Chinese government subsidies act almost like a cheat code for Chinese manufacturers, enabling them to continuously sell products at a loss in order to gain market share from US companies, which (usually) need to turn a profit to survive.

🤔 If this argument sounds familiar… In May, the Biden administration announced higher tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese imports due to concern over exploitative labor practices (read: slavery) as well as enormous government subsidies that provide Chinese companies with an unfair advantage over their American counterparts.

+Dive deeper: Tariffs on Chinese EVs are set to increase from 25% to 100%. Even that may not be enough to keep them off the US market.