|
About three and a half years ago, the American auto industry made a big bet on electrification, with the help of the Biden administration. It has been obvious to informed observers for at least a decade that EVs are where car production as an industry is going to land, sooner or later. They are faster, simpler, cheaper to run and maintain, dramatically more efficient, and most importantly, produce no direct carbon emissions, when stacked up against cars running on fossil fuels.
So, the Inflation Reduction Act contained a large subsidy package for the manufacture and sale of EVs. Automakers got a variety of subsidies for building batteries and EVs, while car buyers got a $7,500 tax credit for purchasing them. That way, the Big Three—General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis—could start to catch up with Chinese companies, which stole a march on America the first time Trump threw a wrench into the EV transition. Thanks to the IRA, the Big Three could claim a piece of the global auto market going forward.
Then the American people, in their infinite wisdom, elected Donald Trump, and he proceeded to stab the American auto industry directly between the shoulder blades. Almost all of the EV subsidies in the IRA were repealed, as part of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Now, thanks to that betrayal, plus Trump’s lunatic trade and foreign policy in general, the American auto industry is bleeding out.
|
