A “scam”. As debate rages across the Atlantic over the extent to which electric cars are a solution to reducing CO2 emissions, Donald Trump said he wanted to end the $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles, in an interview with Reuters on Monday, August 19. “Tax credits and tax incentives are generally not a very good thing,” he said, specifying that he was “a big fan of electric cars”, but also “gasoline cars, as well as hybrids and all the things that are going to come.” The measure, already in place when the billionaire was president, had been extended by President Joe Biden in 2022, in order for the United States to reach its goal of 50% of new electric vehicle sales by 2030.
The statement is somewhat surprising, since Donald Trump is very close to Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, which only sells… electric cars. Last month, the latter publicly supported the Republican candidate and, on August 12, the two men spoke live on X, displaying in particular their shared hatred of illegal immigration and Europeans. Speaking to Reuters, Donald Trump said he was ready to offer a ministerial position, or an advisory role, “if he wanted,” to his billionaire colleague, a man he described as “brilliant.” Last May, the Wall Street Journal had previously reported that the former president was considering giving a position in his future administration to the controversial tech giant.
The end of the electric car
An invitation that Elon Musk was quick to respond to to react on his social network Xalready imagining himself as secretary of the “Department of Government Efficiency” and publishing a montage of himself accompanied by the caption “I am ready to serve”. The acronym “DOGE” of this fictitious position – borrowed from an Internet user – refers to a popular Shiba dog meme on the Internet, and a cryptocurrency with which the big boss likes to have fun. Enough to leave doubts as to the seriousness of this response from Elon Musk to Donald Trump’s proposal.
Last July, Donald Trump had already criticized electric cars, during the Republican convention in Milwaukee. According to him, the end of these vehicles would allow “thousands and thousands of dollars per car to be saved for American customers”, because these machines “are very expensive” and “don’t go far enough”. This budget that he intends to save would be added to the customs duties of around 100 to 200% on Chinese cars that he wants to introduce, so that they are “unsaleable in the United States”. The objective of these savings would be to redirect them towards “important projects, like roads, bridges and dams”, he had listed.