(RepublicanReport.org) – Former President Donald Trump vows that if he returns to the White House, he’ll reverse President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate. He recently spoke at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, where he slammed EVs and the policies that are pushing them. He called them “electric nonsense” and insisted the auto industry would be “dead” soon if the country didn’t reverse course.
Trump attended his “Buckeye Values PAC” rally on March 16. He told the crowd that he thinks the administration has been “horrible” to industry workers, adding that the EVs the administration is mandating don’t drive very far on a charge, are too expensive, and are all manufactured in China. He added that many car makers are also moving their businesses to Mexico, and the US isn’t even planning to tax them when they bring their vehicles back over the border. The former president stated that he would slap a 100% tariff on them while encouraging the building of more plants in US-based locations and refusing to hire from overseas.
The backlash comes in response to Biden’s policies, which follow progressive pushes to move away from combustion engines and subsidize the making and buying of EVs in their place. Environmental, as well as financial incentives, are behind the shift, and other countries have also pressed for a more aggressive movement toward electric over gas-powered cars. The Biden administration previously set a target that would have 60% of all new vehicles fully electric by 2030. Poor EV sales have reportedly led to looser goals.
Concerns over the economic effects that could result from the changes are valid. China manufactures the lithium-ion batteries that power EVs, and imports have skyrocketed in the past few years. Still, some of the rhetoric the Right has been spreading on the issue could be political. Entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has close ties with Trump, alleges the MAGA leader is so opposed to EVs because he has heavy connections to the gas and oil industry.
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