The deeper cost is that there are way fewer white collar do-nothings tampering with frivolities to justify their paychecks. That and subsidizing tech and infrastructure (including EVs) like any responsible country would and should do. It's the sort of investment that any dipshit who's played a Civilization game should be able to comprehend.

Capitalism trusts corporations to invest in the right things for the future, but they're not thinking about 10-50 years from now. Their goal is short term profits. Show growth for the next couple of quarters. But really they're just trying to not get eaten by a bear, and you don't need to run faster than a bear to achieve that; you just need to run faster than the guy next to you. Chevy and Ford have done a decent job competing with each other, but they'd be blown out of the fucking water by BYD, and that's why they're tariffed to hell and back in the US.