Trump announces first moves against electric cars
On his first day in office, Trump signed several executive orders that will have an impact on electromobility in the country. For starters, he withdrew Joe Biden’s 50 per cent target formulated in 2021, which was not legally binding but gave car manufacturers guidance and planning certainty. In addition, the new US president is putting the charging infrastructure funding (NEVI and CFI) on hold; a week ago, the Biden administration disbursed funds from these two programmes for the last time. Trump wants to withhold the unspent money from the cumulative 5 billion dollar fund.
Trump is also setting the direction for the future with several demands. For example, he wants to review the abolition of tax credits for electric vehicles and not allow the states any exemptions with stricter climate protection requirements (which would primarily affect California). The new president also wants to instruct the US Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its stricter emissions regulations. As is well known, the current regulations require car manufacturers to sell between 30 and 56 per cent electric vehicles by 2032. Although there is no fixed EV quota, this is the only way to fulfil the emission limits. During the election campaign, Trump falsely spoke of an ‘EV mandate’ that needed to be abolished.
The newly sworn-in US President has now literally said that the US Environmental Protection Agency should “where appropriate, state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles.” And: “Consider the elimination of unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase.”
Industry experts and analysts believe that the Biden administration’s emissions policy cannot simply be repealed, however, and that changing it will require a lengthy review process involving public hearings and other rulemaking procedures. A new congressional legislative process would also be required to fully repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and the associated tax credits for electric vehicles.
It is also notable what Trump failed to do on the first day: he did not introduce stricter tariffs. The Wall Street Journal reports that although Trump is in favour of imposing strict tariffs on imported goods, including those from allied nations such as Canada and Mexico – he will not tackle this issue by himself, but will instead instruct his administration to review the country’s trade deficits and policies.
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