Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024 over the weekend, and now some Tesla and EV enthusiasts are pointing to anti-EV legislation proposed last year by Trump’s new vice presidential pick.
On Monday, Trump announced that his running mate would be Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), following Musk’s endorsement of the former president on Saturday. Some in the Tesla and electric-vehicle communities now point out that Vance last year proposed the Drive American Act, a bill that would replace the $7,500 electric-vehicle tax credit with a subsidy of the same amount for gas-powered vehicles made in the United States.
“Right now, the Biden administration’s official policy is to spend billions of dollars on subsidies for electric vehicles made abroad,” Senator Vance wrote in the proposal. “If we support anything, it should be Ohio workers — not green energy daydreamers who are moving their jobs to China. We can secure a brighter future for American auto workers by passing this legislation and reversing the Biden administration’s misguided policies.”
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Vance also wrote an op-ed just a week before the American Drive Act, encouraging the then-striking United Auto Workers (UAW) union to avoid what he called “the Biden administration’s unfair transition to electric vehicles.”
“Here are the facts: China dominates the global supply chain for electric vehicles — especially for critical minerals and batteries,” Vance wrote in his article.
“While an electric vehicle may carry a Ford, Chevrolet or Chrysler logo, its core components may have been manufactured in China using Chinese labor and materials. Two of the Big Three automakers lose huge amounts of money on electric vehicles. Ford, for example, loses $32,000 on every electric vehicle it sells. These losses result in lower wages for workers, fewer jobs in the auto industry, and higher prices for consumers.”
Last month, Trump told attendees at a rally that he was a “big fan of electric cars” and a “big fan of Elon,” despite some of his anti-electric car sentiment in the past.
In March, Vance said on Channel X that he fully supported Trump’s earlier claim that an economic “bloodbath” would occur in the U.S. auto industry if Biden continued on the current path, noting that many media outlets had focused too much on the terminology.
Donald Trump said there would be a bloodbath in the US auto industry if Biden continued to promote Chinese-made electric cars.
He is of course 100% right.
All other reports of his comment on the “bloodbath” are pure propaganda. The media should be ashamed of themselves.
— JD Vance (@JDVance1) March 17, 2024
Musk also congratulated Vance on his nomination to the Republican Party on Monday, saying it was an “excellent decision” by Trump.
———————
trump card
Vance
———————Echoes of victory
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2024
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, or you can reach me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us your tips at tips@teslarati.com.
