Campaign

Trump campaign rips Biden’s EV plan as autoworkers ramp up strike threats

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 24: Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on August 24, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton County jail, where he will be booked on 13 charges related to an alleged plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Former President Trump’s campaign aimed its ire at the Biden administration’s plans to push for more Americans to use electric vehicles Thursday.

“Joe Biden’s Electric Vehicle mandate will murder the U.S. auto industry and kill countless union autoworker jobs forever, especially in Michigan and the Midwest,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement. “There is no such thing as a ‘fair transition’ to the destruction of these workers’ livelihoods and the obliteration of this cherished American industry.”

Biden’s administration proposed new car regulations attempting to require automakers to limit their greenhouse gas emissions from their fleets in April. Under this proposal, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projected two-thirds of car sales could be EVs by 2032

The Trump campaign’s comments come as a United Auto Workers (UAW) strike at the Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, formerly known as Chrysler — looms. One of the major concerns of the autoworkers threatening to strike is how a shift to EVs could threaten their jobs and pay.

“The only acceptable policy for UAW members should be the complete and total repeal of Biden’s catastrophic EV mandate,” the Trump campaign statement read. 

“President Trump looks forward to doing exactly that on his first day back in the Oval Office. Union leadership must decide whether they will stand with Biden and other far-left political cronies in Washington, or whether they will stand with front-line autoworkers and President Trump,” the statement continued.