If Donald Trump is elected president in November, he will end subsidies for electric cars of up to $7,500 per car.

“Tax credits and tax incentives are generally not a very good thing,” said the Republican candidate told Reuters in an interview. “I’m not making any final decisions on that,” he added. “I’m a big fan of electric cars, but I’m a fan of gasoline-powered cars and also hybrids and whatever else comes along.”

The so-called tax incentive, which the Biden administration expanded when it took office in 2020, is intended to motivate automakers to build more plug-in vehicles and get more drivers to buy them. Recently, however, sales have stagnated and are even declining in Europe as governments run out of money to keep paying the incentives.

Sales figures for July showed that electric vehicle sales in Europe’s largest market, Germany, plunged by 37% after subsidies were removed in December last year. Sweden also saw a decline in electric vehicle sales and Switzerland also reported a double-digit drop in sales.

“Wealthy and environmentally conscious buyers are more or less exhausted, and the industry’s lack of affordable battery models is locking mass consumers out of the market,” Bloomberg noted at the time.

According to Reuters, Trump believes the market for electric vehicles is much smaller than the current administration has assumed due to battery range and costs. Trump is also considering removing the electric vehicle requirement for automakers.

On the other hand, the Republican candidate does not seem to have a problem with Chinese electric vehicles – as long as they are built in the USA.

“We’re going to offer incentives, and if China and other countries want to come here and sell cars, they’re going to build factories here and hire our workers,” Trump said. “We’re going to build our own cars. I want to build our own cars,” Trump also said.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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