Former President Trump went after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) during an appearance at the California GOP’s fall convention Friday, accusing him of hurting the state’s auto industry.
“Along with crooked Joe Biden, Newsom is also killing our car industry,” he said, adding “It’s ridiculous what’s happening.”
Trump denounced regulations put in place during Newsom’s administration to transition from gas-powered to electric vehicles.
The California Air Resources Board approved a rule last August that will require all new vehicles sold in California to not produce any greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. The rule includes benchmarks for the industry to gradually reduce emissions with requirements for 35 percent of new vehicles sold to produce no emissions by 2026 and 68 percent by 2030.
Newsom said at the time that the move would be “one of the most significant steps to the elimination of the tailpipe as we know it.”
California became the first state to announce a plan to phase out gas-powered cars. A few other states have since followed suit.
“California has imposed the most ridiculous car regulations of anywhere in the world with mandates to move to all-electric cars,” Trump said.
Trump referenced the speech he gave to autoworkers on Wednesday in a Detroit suburb in which he slammed the Biden administration’s support for electric vehicles and urged the United Auto Workers, which is on strike amid contract disputes with the “Big Three” automakers, to endorse him. The former president was notably speaking at a non-union manufacturer.
He argued that his policies would allow the car industry to thrive, while Biden’s are the cause of their problems.
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a rule to require automakers to limit greenhouse gas emissions coming from their fleets but not directly adopt electric vehicles. Transitioning to electric vehicles could be a way for the automakers to comply with the rule.
Trump also called Newsom “Biden’s top surrogate” and argued that the governor “doesn’t think Biden’s going to make it.”
“That’s why he’s doing it,” he said.
Newsom has been a strong advocate of the president and said he would not run in the 2024, even if Biden didn’t.
He doubled down on that in a recent interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, saying he would “of course not” run for president in 2024 and that he believes Biden will be reelected.