President Donald Trump pledged in his inauguration speech to roll back what he called the “electric vehicle mandate,” or federal regulations that would have required increasingly strict emissions standards for vehicles over the coming years.
Trump claimed the upcoming executive order — expected to be signed later Monday as part of a broader series of actions around energy policy — would save the U.S. auto industry and its workers. And for consumers, he adds, “you will be able to buy the car of your choice”. Such a regulatory rollback could mean that automakers will focus less on electric vehicle production in the future.
The Environmental Protection Agency in March finalized a greenhouse gas emissions fleet standard for model years 2027 through 2032. Contrary to Trump’s statements, these final rules do not require customers to buy an electric vehicle, but constitute a performance standard that allows car manufacturers to determine their sales mix to stay within certain limits.
According to projections by 2032, manufacturers could choose to produce fully electric vehicles for around 30-56% of their new light vehicle sales, alongside a mix of other hybrid, plug-in hybrid and cleaner vehicles, powered by gas and diesel.
The Biden administration had said the goal was to encourage Americans to buy electric vehicles and automakers to abandon gasoline-powered vehicles, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases and combat climate change . The policy should also improve public health, the EPA said, by reducing fine particulate matter and ozone and preventing premature deaths and other health problems.
Trump, in his speech at the U.S. Capitol, also promised that during his second term, the U.S. auto industry – and manufacturing in general – would grow again and produce a historic level of vehicles: “Thank you to our nation’s auto workers for your inspiring vote. of trust. We have done a lot with their vote.
He has doubled down on election promises to overhaul the country’s trade system, including considering raising tariffs, a move that could have major implications for the auto industry. The president has already warned that he will increase tariffs on goods from China, Mexico and Canada.
“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will impose tariffs and taxes on foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” he said. “To this end, we are creating the Foreign Revenue Service to collect all customs duties, taxes and revenues. Massive sums of money will flow into our treasury, from foreign sources.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump would initially refrain from imposing new tariffs, opting instead to sign a memorandum that would direct federal agencies to study trade issues and assess the country’s current relationship with China, Mexico and Canada.
Automakers have drawn up scenarios and are waiting to see which electric vehicle, manufacturing and trade policies the new president wants to address first.
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John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the main lobbying group for the U.S. auto industry except Tesla Inc., said last week that he expected the regulations of the EPA are among the first priorities of the new administration.
The group has stressed in recent weeks that while the national standards merit new review because adoption of electric vehicles has not increased as quickly as expected, the limits put in place by California and adopted by 11 other states and Washington, DC, are “unreachable.” During Trump’s first term, his administration challenged California’s authority to set its own standards.
“We can’t have regulations that push the industry too far ahead of the customer,” Bozzella said last week at the Detroit Auto Show. “The customer is in the driver’s seat, and so it’s very important to have a little more balance between our regulatory goals – whether they relate to emissions or fuel-saving technology – and the customer.”
The United Auto Workers worked to defeat Trump. But many union members supported him nonetheless, and Trump made his appreciation clear in the inauguration speech and in a subsequent speech Monday.
“Unions have done it,” Trump said in a speech to an overflow room at Emancipation Hall after his inaugural address. He noted that his support for the 2024 campaign from union members came amid opposition from some union leaders, an apparent reference to United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain.
“Look at what we did with the auto workers in Michigan,” Trump said. “Look what we did with the Teamsters. »
Fain wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Sunday that union officials were ready to work with the new president on trade policy that would keep more blue-collar jobs in the United States.
“We disagree with Trump on much of his domestic agenda, but we hope to find common ground on overhauling our devastating trade policies and rebuilding America’s manufacturing industry,” Fain wrote . “Trump promised to pass tariffs to protect workers, and we agree that tariffs are a necessary tool.”
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