The newly sworn-in President Donald Trump has revoked a major electric vehicle target for the US on his first day back in the White House, causing massive uncertainty for the automotive sector.
The move came during a ceremony at Capitol One Arena on Monday, where the new president signed multiple orders aimed at dismantling his predecessor’s environmental policies.
Among the most significant changes was the cancellation of Biden’s 2021 executive order which set a goal to have at least 50 per cent of new vehicles sold in 2030 electric, effectively removing the reliance on petrol and diesel cars.
The reversal marks one of Trump’s first major policy shifts since returning to office, signalling a dramatic change in direction for US environmental and automotive policy.
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Trump issued executive orders to reverse the electric car mandate at his inauguration ceremony
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Due to Biden’s original target not being legally binding and sparking mixed views from major automotive manufacturers, Trump decided to take matters into his own hands.
The move was part of Trump’s broader “revolution of common sense” announced during his inauguration speech, where he pledged to “end the Green New Deal”.
Trump specifically promised to “revoke the electric vehicle mandate” to protect the American auto industry, vowing that consumers would be able to “buy the car of your choice”.
“The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity,” Trump declared at the ceremony.
During his inaugural address, he also emphasised that under his administration, the country would “build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible”.
He specifically thanked autoworkers for what he called their “inspiring vote of confidence”, noting strong support from the sector during his election campaign. But environmental groups swiftly condemned Trump’s rollback of electric vehicle policies.
Dan Becker, director of the safe climate transport campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity told The Guardian: “These clean car rollbacks will burden Americans with a Trumpfecta of higher prices, more pollution and weaker competitiveness.”
Becker warned that “our kids and everyone with lungs will pay the price for these politically motivated rollbacks of protections for our air and the climate”.
Trump also pledged to roll back auto pollution standards finalised by Biden’s administration last spring.
Trump refers to these standards as an “EV mandate”, though they did not directly require the production of electric vehicles.
Despite the US taking a firm backslide on its electric car commitments the UK has taken an opposite approach with Labour currently looking at bringing in an earlier car ban mandate.
Last year the Government launched a consultation into the logistics of moving forward the UK car ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles to 2030 from its original 2035 date.
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The consultation read: “The last Government did great harm to the UK’s reputation as a leading nation in the EV transition by moving goalposts on phase-out dates, and creating doubt in the minds of investors and boardrooms.
“Their actions imperilled the billions of pounds of committed investment in the automotive sector and in key areas such as the UK’s burgeoning charge point sector. We will not repeat this mistake. All new cars and vans will need to be 100 per cent zero emission by 2035. And no new petrol or diesel cars will be sold after 2030.”
