Reports indicate that Trump's team plans to cancel the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit, causing electric vehicle stocks to plummet
The Trump team is considering canceling the $7,500 electric vehicle subsidy policy to fund its tax reduction plan. This policy is one of the Biden administration's measures to combat inflation. Trump supporters and the oil industry hope to eliminate the electric vehicle tax incentives, while automotive industry groups are calling for their retention. Musk believes that canceling the subsidy policy will have little impact on Tesla, but will instead create greater trouble for competitors. Electric vehicle stocks plummeted, with Tesla closing down 5.77% and "Tesla rival" Rivian closing down 14.3%
On Thursday, November 14th, Eastern Time, two informed sources revealed to Reuters that the transition team of President-elect Donald Trump plans to eliminate the $7,500 tax credit available to consumers purchasing electric vehicles. This subsidy is one of the core measures of President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Leading this energy policy transition is billionaire oil tycoon, founder of Continental Resources, Harold Hamm, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. Since Trump's victory on November 5th, this group has met several times, including a few meetings at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also visited multiple times since the election.
The cancellation of the tax credit could adversely affect the already stagnant U.S. electric vehicle transition. However, representatives from Tesla, the largest electric vehicle seller in the U.S., told Trump's transition committee that they support the elimination of this subsidy. Musk stated earlier this year that the removal of the subsidy might have a slight impact on Tesla's sales but would hit competitors harder, including traditional automakers like General Motors.
In response to this news, Nikola fell 22.76%, ZEEKR ADR dropped 23.68%, Workhorse declined 14.49%, Rivian, a "Tesla rival," decreased by 14.3%, WeRide ADR fell 17.07%, XPeng ADR dropped 5.39%, Tesla fell 5.77%, and FFIE, founded by Jia Yueting, decreased by 2.82%.
Support from Trump supporters, Tesla, and the oil industry
Trump repeatedly promised during his campaign to end Biden's "electric vehicle policies," but did not specify the details. Now, Trump's energy transition team believes that some clean energy policies in Biden's Inflation Reduction Act are difficult to eliminate because these projects have already begun to allocate funds and even benefit some Republican-led states, where the public supports the policy.
An alliance representing almost all major automakers (except Tesla), the "Automotive Innovation Alliance," sent a letter to Congress on October 15th, urging the retention of electric vehicle tax credits, arguing that this policy is crucial for ensuring America's global leadership in future automotive technology and manufacturing.
Informed sources say that Trump hopes to save funds by eliminating electric vehicle tax credits so that he can use this money to pay for the trillions of dollars in tax cuts set to expire early in his administration. Republicans plan to make larger-scale tax reform one of their top priorities in the new Congress.
Members of Trump's energy transition team expect that the Republican Congress will use a legislative process called "budget reconciliation" to advance this reform, thus not needing to rely on Democratic votes. Biden used this method to pass the IRA legislation Most of the oil and gas industry strongly supports the cancellation of electric vehicle subsidies, as it benefits their business.
Trump promised before the election that, even though U.S. oil production has reached a historic high, he would still push to increase U.S. oil production and revoke President Biden's costly clean energy plans. These policies include not only electric vehicle tax subsidies but also subsidies for wind and solar energy, as well as support for large-scale hydrogen production