TRUMP’S LATEST ON AUTOS: Donald Trump released a “Plan to Save America’s Auto Industry” this week, which outlines his plans to end what he described as President Joe Biden’s “assault” on the manufacturing sector, to roll back stringent tailpipe emissions and fuel economy standards that some Republicans argue amounts to a de facto ban on gas-powered vehicles, and to undo Inflation Reduction Act provisions that he argues benefit China and other foreign producers, leaving U.S. auto production, in his words, “totally dead.”
Undoing the IRA: Since the IRA is a law passed by Congress, Trump could not fully reverse the bill without the support of lawmakers—though he could take certain actions that would deter new investments for EVs. This could include ordering agencies to limit the EV consumer tax credit created under the IRA, which would make the vehicles more costly for consumers and risking billions of dollars that automakers have already invested in new production and EV manufacturing facilities.
Trump also cited fears with the pace of electrification, noting in a CNBC interview that he thinks EVs are being pushed on U.S. consumers too fast. “First of all they don’t go far, they cost too much, and they’re all going to be made in China,” he said.
Trump also said he plans to create a special team of “warrior lawyers” to “identify and immediately eliminate every unnecessary regulation” harming the auto industry, though we are not quite sure what that means. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment or clarification.
Ending CAFE standards: Trump vowed to undo what he described as the administration’s “insane” fuel economy standards for vehicles, which target an 8% reduction in tailpipe pollution for both 2024 and 2025 model years, before increasing to 10% beginning in 2026. Trump had previously rolled back the fuel economy standards in 2020 to target just a 1.5% reduction beginning in 2026—far lower than the previous Obama administration standard of 5%.
New universal baseline and reciprocal tariffs: Trump has proposed a universal baseline tariff of 10% on most imported goods as president, which could increase to 60% or higher on Chinese-made products—and primarily Chinese-made vehicles, in a bid to get Beijing to build more of its vehicles in the U.S., as he outlined in an interview with CNBC this week.
Some of the tariffs Trump enacted during his first term in office have been maintained under the Biden administration. But the Tax Foundation’s Center for Federal Tax Policy estimated the 10% proposal would raise taxes by more than $300 billion per year for U.S. consumers, and would threaten “retaliatory tax increases on U.S. exports from international trade partners.”
Oil and gas drilling: Trump also vowed to restore U.S. energy “dominance,” including approving oil and gas drilling permits for producers, and refilling the nation’s emergency oil stockpile following the 180-barrel drawdown that President Joe Biden ordered in the aftermath of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
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YELLOWSTONE FINES PIERCE BROSNAN FOR TRESPASSING IN THERMAL AREA: Actor Pierce Brosnan was ordered this week to pay to pay a $500 fine and a $1,000 community service payment to the Yellowstone Forever Geological Fund after he pleaded guilty to trespassing onto a thermal area at the Yellowstone National Park late last year—which he later posted about on his Instagram page.
In that photo, Brosnan was seen wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses while standing on a thermal feature at Mammoth Hot Springs at Yellowstone, mocking the “tourons,” or “tourist morons” at the nation’s oldest national park.
The photo has since been deleted. In a new post shared late last night, Brosnan apologized for the incident and said he was “an environmentalist” who had “the utmost respect for and love of our natural world.”
Justice Department officials said the incident occurred sometime “on or about” Nov. 1, 2023, citing the Instagram photo and noting the many warning signs and orders for visitors to stay on boardwalks and trails that are posted throughout the park.
NPS officials reiterated the dangers of trespassing in Yellowstone in a statement yesterday, stating that the ground in thermal areas is “fragile and thin” and noting that the scalding water below can cause severe or fatal burns.
CALIFORNIA NEEDS TO TRIPLE EMISSIONS REDUCTION RATE, NEW STUDY FINDS: California needs to roughly triple the rate of its annual emissions reductions in order to deliver on its targets for 2030, according to a study published this week, which said that at its current rate of emissions cuts, the Golden State is not projected to meet its 2030 targets until 2047.
The jarring projection was just one of several top-line takeaways from the report, published by California-based think tank Next 10 in coordination with the consulting group Beacon Economics. California’s goal is for 40% emissions reductions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
In order to reach that target, California must slash emissions at a rate of 4.4% per year, the report found—roughly triple the 1.6% reduction rate from the last five years. It also needs to double its share of renewables
“California is an important state to study decarbonization because the state has a great deal of technology and wealth,” Beacon Economics research manager Stafford Nichols said in a press release accompanying the report.
“If California can’t decarbonize its economy then that does not bode well for less well-off economies,” he added. Read more here.
LARGEST U.S. GRID COULD LOSE 58 GW IN GENERATION BY 2030, REPORT WARNS: The nation’s largest power grid, PJM, is at risk of losing up to 58,000 MW in power generation by the end of the decade due primarily to the retirement of thermal generators, according to a report published by PJM’s Independent Market Monitor.
The report determined that roughly 33,744 MW of power generation in the region is at risk of retirement due to lower energy costs, which dropped by a staggering $49.06 per MWh in 2023— the single largest annual price decrease since the creation of PJM markets in 1999. Another 19,635 MW of power is at risk of retirement as the result of state and federal regulations, the report said.
The retirements also threaten to significantly drive up utility costs for consumers in the region, which spans 13 U.S. states including D.C., unless PJM can secure adequate replacement capacity before 2030.
Compounding the problem is PJM’s “slow and tortured” interconnection system, Independent Market Monitor president Joseph Bowring said, making it difficult to bring new commercial-scale generation online. Read the report in full here.
HONDA AND NISSAN TO PARTNER ON ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Japanese automaker rivals Honda and Toyota announced today that they would partner on electric vehicles and auto intelligence technology, a move taken as a reaction to the rise of Tesla and China’s BYD.
“We don’t have time,” Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said at a press conference in Tokyo, according to the Associated Press. “It is significant that we have reached this agreement based on a mutual understanding that Honda and Nissan face common challenges.”
Toyota, in particular, had long been relatively skeptical about EVs. Today’s move, though, marks a trend of major automakers scrambling to catch up on the technology as BYD and others produce low-cost EVs. Volkswagen also said this week that it is weighing partnering with other automakers to produce a low-cost EV.
DEMOCRATS CLAIM ‘SMOKING GUN’ THAT CHAMBER CLIMATE GROUP WASN’T SERIOUS: Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Brian Schatz claim to have “smoking gun” proof that the climate group the Chamber of Commerce created in 2019 was never meant to meaningfully back policies to limit climate change, E&E News reports.
The two senators had sent inquiries to 20 companies believed to be part of the Chamber’s Climate Actions Task Force. They said the answers they received confirmed that the task force was not serious. Notably, though, they did not produce the letters for reporters to review.
The Chamber said that the task force played a role in its work on carbon pricing, HFCs, and more.
Whitehouse, in particular, has long tried to pressure the oil and gas industry and the Chamber of Commerce over climate policy, listing the latter as one “the most powerful enemies to climate action.” He has said that litigation against companies for misleading the public about climate change could be used to spur the industry to drop its opposition to major climate legislation.
RUNDOWN
New York Times Beach town residents paid $600,000 for sand. It lasted a few days.
Financial Times Zombie car factories on the rise in China as buyers opt for EVs
