Former US President Donald Trump rescinded a key executive order from the Biden administration on Monday, targeting federal support for electric vehicles (EVs) and reaffirming his commitment to traditional energy industries. Speaking at Capitol One Arena before an enthusiastic crowd, Trump signed a series of executive orders, including one that revokes a 2021 order aimed at ensuring half of all new vehicles sold in the US by 2030 are electric.
“The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity,” Trump declared, emphasizing his stance against what he views as policies that disadvantage American manufacturers in favor of global competitors.
The non-binding Biden-era target garnered support from major automakers as part of a broader push toward reducing carbon emissions. However, critics argue that reversing such measures could have significant environmental and economic consequences.
“These clean car rollbacks will burden Americans with a Trumpfecta of higher prices, more pollution, and weaker competitiveness,” said Dan Becker, director of the safe climate transport campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Our kids and everyone with lungs will pay the price for these politically motivated rollbacks of protections for our air and the climate.”
The move is part of Trump’s broader promise to dismantle environmental policies implemented under President Joe Biden. Among the actions targeted is the rollback of auto pollution standards introduced last spring, which Trump has criticized as an ‘EV mandate,’ though the rule did not explicitly require automakers to produce electric vehicles.
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