Trump vows to end ‘madness’ of EV push

Former President Trump is vowing to end the “madness” of the Biden administration’s push for electric vehicles — a likely appeal to voters in the swing state of Michigan.

In a pair of Truth Social posts Monday evening, Trump took aim at the electric vehicle industry and President Biden’s push for more electric vehicles. With this opposition to electric vehicles, Trump is likely trying to persuade Michigan voters to support him over Biden, who carried the swing state in 2020.

“The Great State of Michigan will not have an auto industry anymore if Crooked Joe Biden’s crazed concept of ‘all Electric Cars’ goes into effect,” he wrote in the Truth Social post. “CHINA WILL TAKE IT ALL, 100%. United Auto Workers, VOTE FOR TRUMP. Get your leaders to ENDORSE ME, I WILL KEEP ALL OF THESE GREAT JOBS, AND BRING IN MANY MORE. CHOICE IN SCHOOLS, AND CHOICE IN CARS!!!”

In 2021, Michigan was home to more than 175,000 auto manufacturing jobs, according to a report from nonprofit research center Mackinac Center for Public Policy. While that number is still higher than any other state, the report noted it’s also only 37 percent of the jobs Michigan had at its peak.

The Biden administration has pushed to boost electric car sales, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) predicting that two-thirds of new car sales could be electric by 2032 under a new proposal released by the administration earlier this year. Last week, the Energy Department announced plans to invest $12 billion into converting auto manufacturing facilities into plants for hybrid and electric vehicles.

Trump also took aim at Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers, for supporting the Biden administration’s latest investment into electric vehicles.

“Shawn Fain, the respected President of the United Auto Workers, cannot even think about allowing ALL ELECTRIC CARS — THEY WILL ALL BE MADE IN CHINA, and the Auto Industry in America will cease to exist!” Trump wrote in a separate Truth Social post.

“Vote for TRUMP, and I will stop this Madness, IMMEDIATELY!” he said. “Mexico & Canada LOVE Biden’s idiotic policy. SAVE MICHIGAN and the other Auto States. SAVE THE AMERICAN CONSUMER!!!”

The call-outs come as about 146,000 UAW members near a strike deadline when their contract ends Sept. 14 with three large U.S. automakers — General Motors, Stellantis and Ford.

Meanwhile, Fain calls their demands for a 46 percent pay raise, a 32-hour work week with 40 hours of pay and restoration of traditional pensions “audacious.”

It is not the first time Trump has taken aim at the Biden administration’s push for electric vehicles to win over voters in Michigan. He has also touted the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) he made in 2020, saying the deal created “tough new requirements to ensure more cars are made in American factories by American workers.”

“Biden is a catastrophe for Michigan and his environmental extremism is heartless and disloyal and horrible for the American worker, and you’re starting to see it,” Trump said in a keynote address to Oakland County Republicans in Michigan in June.