Trump’s new executive order ending the EV mandate could give companies more leeway in the EV transition, but it is not expected to save jobs in the long term.

This year, though, China sent Han Zheng, its vice-president. He will have heard Mr Trump promise to “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens”. But China was not singled out. Indeed, Mr Trump mentioned the country only in passing—to claim that it was operating the Panama Canal.