I think the US is hoping to buy itself some time while their EV manufacturing catches up, but they aren't being practical about the limited effect of these tariffs and aren't making the necessary domestic investments so far to compete with the level of manufacture the Chinese are at and the level the Japanese and a few other countries will be at in 5 years.

The market is still going to end up with safe, affordable EVs sooner than anyone thought, so I can't get too worked up about the US not jumping into the race.

If they don't want to catch up, then they get left behind.

They let others manufacture their TVs, computers, and toilet paper, it's not unlikely they'll let their national auto industry die as well.