Former President Donald Trump's increasingly harsh language about Joe Biden's presidency might have a major impact in key battleground territory: the U.S. shift from gas-powered to electric cars.
Biden's most ambitious industrial policy and climate change agenda includes subsidies for electric vehicle manufacturing, new federal standards to cut emissions, charging infrastructure investments, and tax credits for electric vehicle purchases.
He and his administration have visited electric vehicle assembly lines and battery companies to promote the new employment his agenda has created and the rising number of Americans using electric vehicles.
However, Trump and many of his allies have focused on that agenda, particularly in Michigan, long the hub of the American auto industry, in dire and violent terms, warning of mass job losses and railing against vehicles that are cost-prohibitive, require electric infrastructure that many places lack, and are not as capable as gas-powered vehicles.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports rising auto manufacturing jobs and falling electric model pricing. Due to auto labor and management opposition, the Biden administration has cut its 2032 electric vehicle adoption objective from 67% to half.
Michigan and Georgia, a purple state that has received billions in electric vehicle investments from carmakers, will likely be the most contentious. Recently, numerous new electric vehicle-related plants have built in Republican areas like South Carolina and Kentucky, where state and municipal legislators have praised their economic impact and weak union rights allow for low labor costs.
Major automakers and other industry participants see the shift to electric vehicles as inevitable and want to embrace it. They regard it as a vital measure to address climate change and defend their bottom lines, not a disaster.
Still, Trump has claimed the proposals would cause a “bloodbath” in the U.S. economy, “kill” the auto industry, and “assassinate” employment. Trump repeatedly called Biden's electric vehicle subsidies “one of the dumbest [decisions] I've ever heard” and predicted they would benefit Chinese and Mexican automakers at an immigration event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, last week.
He asked, “Isn’t it a shame we play away from our strength?” pointing to U.S. oil and gas riches and promising to “end” the policies immediately. We play into their strength by doing this.”
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