Political hypocrisy is a contradiction between a state’s professed ideals and actual practices – an inconsistency that undermines the coherence of its professed moral and political views. As philosophers, we would say that, at its core, hypocrisy violates the principle of non-contradiction: if you simultaneously hold and act against a particular value, you engage in a form of self-defeating reasoning.
The hypocritical agent is thereby legitimately seen as immoral, deceptive and lacking in seriousness. At any rate, the agent loses credibility and undermines the integrity of their political relationships with their counterparts.
In academia, we are interested in how hypocrisy affects multilateral relationships and political trust. At the moment, we have a particularly glaring case of hypocrisy – the destructive tariffs against Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).
The ongoing debate over electric vehicles provides a vivid illustration of political hypocrisy and its damaging consequences. Major Western nations have been scrambling to impose extraordinary tariffs on electric vehicles made in China, as well as photovoltaic solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.
In May, the United States announced it would increase its tariffs on electric vehicles made in China to 100 per cent. The changes were implemented in September. Canada soon followed suit, also announcing a 100 per cent tariff. Then, in October, the European Union decided via a contentious qualified majority vote to impose its own tariffs of up to 45 per cent.
Given the extraordinary size of these duties, it seems more appropriate to see them almost as import bans. The pressure to impose such bans will only increase with the re-election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States.