New US President Donald Trump’s transition team is recommending changes to cut support for electric vehicles and charging stations and strengthen measures that block the entry of cars, components and battery materials from China, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The recommendations, which have not been previously reported, come as the U.S. electric vehicle transition is stalled and China’s heavily subsidized electric vehicle sector continues to grow, in part due to its battery supply chain. top. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to ease regulations on fossil fuel cars and reverse what he called President Joe Biden’s EV mandate.
The transition team also recommends imposing tariffs on all battery materials globally, an attempt to boost U.S. production and then negotiate individual exemptions with allies, the document shows.
Taken together, the recommendations are a major departure from Biden administration policy, which has sought to balance encouraging a domestic battery supply chain, separate from China, with a rapid EV transition. The transition team’s plan would redirect money now flowing toward building charging stations and making EVs affordable toward national defense priorities.
The proposals came from a Trump transition team tasked with crafting a strategy for quickly implementing new auto policies. The team is also calling for the elimination of the Biden administration’s $7,500 tax credit for consumer purchases of electric vehicles, a plan the Reuters first reported last month.
The policies could affect sales and production of electric vehicles in the US at a time when many traditional automakers, including General Motors and Hyundai, have recently introduced a wider range of electric vehicle offerings to the North American market.
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Cutting government support for electric vehicles could also hurt sales of Elon Musk’s Tesla, the top U.S. seller of electric vehicles. But Musk, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, said the loss of subsidies would hurt rivals more than Tesla.
The transition team calls for recovering remaining funds from Biden’s $7.5 billion plan to build charging stations and shift the money toward battery minerals processing and the “national defense and infrastructure supply chain.” criticism.”
While batteries, minerals and other EV components are “essential to defense production,” electric vehicles “and charging stations are not,” the document says.
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In recent years, the Defense Department has highlighted U.S. strategic vulnerabilities due to China’s dominance in mining and refining critical minerals, including graphite and lithium needed for batteries and rare earth metals used in electric vehicle engines and military aircraft. .
Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said voters gave Trump a mandate to fulfill campaign promises, including ending the government’s attacks on gasoline-powered cars.
“When he takes office, President Trump will support the auto industry, allowing space for gasoline-powered cars and electric vehicles,” Leavitt said in a statement.
