Trump Tells GOP He Plans to Entirely Reverse Biden’s EV Policy

(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump railed against President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle policies in a meeting with House Republicans Thursday and said he would undo them if he takes the White House in November, according to lawmakers who attended the private meeting.

Trump told assembled lawmakers at the Capitol Hill Club that “the whole mandate toward battery and electric is crazy,” Representative Russ Fulcher, an Idaho Republican, said in an interview, paraphrasing Trump’s comments.

“He said the policy would be entirely reversed,” Fulcher said. “He made it very, very clear that he’s opposed to the policies we’ve got.”

Trump’s comments, in his first Washington meeting since his criminal conviction in New York last month, came even as one of Biden’s key EV policies was challenged in court. Oil and ethanol industry groups sued Thursday to block new air-pollution limits issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in March that they say would illegally force automakers to sell electric cars.

Biden has made the shift to battery-powered cars one of his top climate and industrial policies and has set a goal of having 50% of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030, offering consumers up to $7,500 in tax credits to buy them. Trump, in contrast, has made no secret his disdain for electric vehicles, claiming they don’t work and will benefit China and Mexico while hurting American autoworkers.

Trump, during his meeting, complained Biden was forcing people to buy EVs, said Representative Morgan Griffith, a Virginia Republican.

“He said that was crazy,” Griffith said in an interview, paraphrasing Trump’s remarks. “He’s going to do something about it.”

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