Documents from President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team,obtained by Reuters, suggest there could besweeping changesto electric-vehicle policies and emissions standards put in place during the current presidential administration.
These could include a rollback on funding to public EV charging stations and a ban on the purchase and development of EVs for the federal government and military.
Reuters reports that the documents show the new administration will take a hard line against Chinese EV imports, including batteries, and end programs that would encourage government agencies and the US military to buy or develop electric vehicles.
This follows previous reports that the Trump administration will seek toeliminate tax credits for EV purchasesandother clean-energy programs, including those that cover residential solar panels.
“President Trump intends to unleash America’s abundant energy resources by cutting red tape to build things in America again, boosting private sector investments, and prioritizing innovation over duplicative and burdensome regulations and he’s assembled a strong slate of cabinet nominees with deep experience to get to work on day one,” said Trump-Vance Transition Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement.
The president-elect has promised steep tariffs against China, as well as Mexico and Canada, thatcould have big implications for the auto industry.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is part of the Trump transition team and couldbenefit in several ways from the new presidency, with some of the new EV policies hurting competitors to Tesla.
The proposed plans also call for pulling back fundsfrom a $7.5 billion initiativeto build an EV charging web connection across the country.
The transition-team documents include other recommendations including loosening emissions standards, which would allow automakers to release vehicles in 2025 that create 25% more emissions than was previously mandated.
The recommendations also suggest blocking the state of California from setting its own emission standards, which would be stricter than in other states.
