Donald Trump gave a fiery speech in Michigan over the weekend, attacking the electric vehicle industry by saying that the regulatory moves being made to mandate more EVs on the road will kill many jobs in Michigan.
That’s a message that Trump and Republicans are very likely to continue hammering home leading up to the 2024 elections, especially in states such as Michigan, which is considered America’s capital of auto manufacturing.
During a speech in Oakland County on Sunday, Trump went off on President Joe Biden for the “environmental extremism” that’s placing “ridiculous regulations” on the industry. As he said:
“Driven by his ridiculous regulations, electric cars will kill more than half of U.S. auto jobs and decimate the suppliers that they decimated already – decimate the suppliers and it’s going to decimate your jobs and it’s going to decimate more than anybody else, the state of Michigan.
“It’s going to be decimation. It’s going to be at a level that people can’t even imagine.”
The goal of the Biden administration is to have two-thirds of all passenger vehicles that are sold in America be electric by 2032. A fact sheet released by the White House announced various investments that are being given to the auto industry.
These investments are intended to boost the purchases of EVs so that 50% of all new auto purchases by 2030 are electric. A part of the Inflation Reduction Act allocates tax credits to some buyers who purchase a new or used EV, with the goal “to bring a clean, safe, affordable and reliable transportation future to Americans.”
The auto industry accounts for roughly 175,000 jobs in Michigan, with the industry literally fueling the state economy. The White House has encouraged many auto manufacturers to move more toward creating EVs, with GM and Ford – which are both based in Michigan – agreeing to do so.
A report issued last week said that Ford will soon receive the largest check from the federal government that’s been given to an auto manufacturer since it helped bail out the industry in 2009. That will come in the form of a loan totalling $9.2 billion that will help the company build three plants dedicated to the manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles that will be located in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Lawmakers in Michigan signed a deal earlier in 2023 to fund part of a battery plant factory’s construction.
Yet, Trump says that all of this is a bad thing for Michigan’s economy. During his speech, he pointed to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that was signed while he was in the White House, which he said focused on ensuring “more cars are made in American factories by American workers.”
He then said that Biden wishes that every car in America would be electric, and is doing everything he can to make that happen. The problem for people in Michigan, Trump said, is:
“You don’t make all-electric cars too much. You know who does? China.”
