Trump team to roll back Biden EV policies

Incoming US President Donald Trump's transition team is recommending sweeping changes to cut off support for electric vehicles and charging stations and to strengthen measures blocking cars, components and battery materials from China, according to a document seen by Reuters.

The recommendations, which have not been previously reported, come as the US electric-vehicle transition stalls and China's heavily subsidised EV industry continues to surge, in part because of its superior battery supply chain. On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to ease regulations on fossil-fuel cars and roll back what he called President Joe Biden's EV mandate.

The transition team also recommends imposing tariffs on all battery materials globally, a bid to boost US production, and then negotiating individual exemptions with allies, the document shows.

Taken together, the recommendations are a stark departure from Biden administration policy, which sought to balance encouraging a domestic battery supply chain, separate from China, with a rapid EV transition. The transition-team plan would redirect money now flowing to building charging stations and making EVs affordable into national-defence priorities, including securing China-free supplies of batteries and the critical minerals to build them.

The proposals came from a Trump transition team charged with crafting a strategy for swift implementation of new automotive policies. The team also calls for eliminating the Biden administration's $7,500 tax credit for consumer EV purchases, a plan that Reuters first reported last month. The policies could strike a blow to US EV sales and production at a time when many legacy automakers, including General Motors and Hyundai, have recently introduced a wider array of electric offerings to the US market.