Harris vs. Trump – Electric Cars and the Future of the United States

Living on the north side of the American border, I found this topic to be quite fascinating as many aspects of my daily life involve the happenings (if you will) in the United States. Now, by the time this blog hits your screens, the presidential election will be over and a new president will have been chosen. But nonetheless, it would be interesting to get 2024 candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s POV’s on a very important topic – electric cars. 

Now the America’s are very closely related to one another, so anything that happens in the United States affects Canada, but not so much the other way around, well at least not as impactful on the United States when something happens here. Regardless, when it comes to the subject of cars and their future, it means everything to both countries – the entire world actually – and should be looked at through a critical lens. 

As you can tell from the title, in this week’s blog post we will be covering the 2 different views of both candidates and it is important to note that I have (and will not express) any political opinions I have in this post. All of the information will be research based and do not reflect my personal beliefs or opinions – this is all just for the fun of reading and to keep things interesting. And although some may not agree with me, I am closing the comments section for this post to avoid any hate messages as those are not welcomed on this site.  

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The focus topic of the 2024 Presidential Election was actually Electric Cars believe it or not. Both candidates made sure to really make mention of this on their stop in the Automotive State of Michigan, in their attempt to sway the hearts of the Gearheads in the heart of America’s auto industry – despite both parties having completely separate views.   

Harris is all for the electric car movement, so it was no surprise that she won the endorsement of the powerful Auto Workers Union. Trump on the other hand, as expressive as he is, made it very clear where he stands, and I’m sure you can guess how he feels, that’s right, totally against it. But how did his speech in Michigan turn out you ask? Was he just saying all those things to appeal to the people of that state? YES! Tell them what they want to hear and they will do anything! Not to mention, and I really don’t know how he pulled this off having a negative view on the whole electric car thing, but, he had the support from a very influential person, any guesses? Try Elon Musk, that’s right, the CEO of Tesla and the world’s richest man.  

Under the Harris Administration

The way the United States is run will differ based on the leader elected, obviously, as they will want things done their way and honestly there’s nothing wrong with that – when it happens to be good for the citizens as well. Now I said I wasn’t going to let my personal opinions be reflected in this post – and I won’t – but logic needs to prevail somewhere, just saying. 

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From the start of the election, Harris has always had Biden’s support, and in a way, she’s kind of following in his footsteps with her approach to climate change. More specifically, electric vehicles. Biden (when he was President of the United States) introduced a climate policy which was intended to provide “hundreds of billions of dollars in government subsidies for electric and other clean-energy technology, including tax credits for clean-energy and energy efficient home projects,” as described by the Washington Post. 

And while under the Biden ruling (when Harris was vice president), she casted the tie breaking vote to implement the Inflation Reduction Act. Through this act, Harris advocates for a substantial amount of funding to be given for domestic electric vehicle manufacturing, which will include funds for charging stations and incentives for consumers who buy EV’s. Regulations were also imposed on automakers, calling for the reduction of emissions produced by their cars in an attempt to make a cleaner environment and for them to not only make more electric vehicles, but hybrid ones as well. 

Now regardless of who is elected president, there will never be a 100% full implementation of electric cars – so all those gearheads out there who still like to drive their manuals will be able to – and Kamala Harris knows she can’t influence people’s decisions, even being quoted saying “….I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive.” in a recent rally in Michigan. 

Interestingly enough, when Harris travelled to Detroit, Michigan in May she announced $100 million for small and medium sized auto manufacturers to upgrade their facilities for EV production. If this doesn’t tell you she’s for electric vehicles, I don’t know what will! 

If elected, Kamala pledged to continue advocating for eco-friendly fuel and emissions standards, increase funding for R & D for Electric Vehicle technology, and focus on leveraging growth in the Electric Vehicle industry to create more jobs. 

Under the Trump Administration

Now let’s take a look at what the United States would look like under the Trump Administration. For starters, Trump would eliminate or at least consider taking out the $7,500 federal incentive program for electric vehicle purchases, although scraping the program entirely would require getting the help of Congress. But Michael Busler, a free-market economist and finance professor at Stockton University, doesn’t put anything past Trump getting Congress to agree with him and was quoted saying, “His view will be that when markets are making transitions, it’s best to let the marketplace do it itself.” 

If we take a look back at when Trump was President previously, one would see how destructive he started making things. From rolling back a wide range of environmental protections and taking to social media with his personal opinions on people who support electric vehicles, it’s not hard to see that this pattern is bound to continue if he were re-elected.   

Experts even warn that it’s very likely Trump will try to undo the EPA tailpipe emissions rule that was set under the Biden administration. But there is one Biden policy that seems very unlikely for Trump (or Kamala Harris for that matter) to interfere with and that’s the tariffs on Chinese EV’s. Trump has pitched an economic plan that circulates around the idea of creating higher tariffs on foreign goods (not fewer), specifically wanting cars to be the most affected. 

While speaking at the Detroit Economic Club in October, he was quoted saying “Chinese cars have been absolutely drowning Europe, drowning it, it’s killing it. But because of me, they are not drowning America…You see very few of them because of the tariffs, and when they do come in, they pay a lot of money.” 

If elected, a Trump administration could use extensive force to reshape how the incentives are handed out, potentially even making them harder to get. The only good part of all of this is even if he somehow convinces Congress to agree with him and scrap the incentives or chooses to make changes to the program, there won’t be such a big impact to the market (Sean Tucker, the lead Editor of Kelley Blue Book) anticipates.  

The California Factor

Some may look at this as a good thing while others will totally disagree, either way, California may be the deciding factor of everything the two candidates want to impose. Why you may ask? Well, there’s this thing called the California factor and how it works is actually quite interesting. Not to mention, there’s another state that is involved with this as well, that’s right, New Jersey. 

Now New Jersey is actually a very special case, simply because their policies are set in Sacramento, California and aren’t regulated by the Federal Government when it comes to the auto industry. They are actually regulated by the California Air Resources Board. Beyond this, Jim Appleton, President of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, adds a really good point – carmarkers are influenced by regulations and laws of other regions (take Europe for example) and regardless of what’s happening in the United States, demands for cleaner technology in those places would keep companies invested in furthering EV’s.  

There’s also the point that brings us back to the Inflation Reduction Act. Many big companies invested in this and this investment created momentum and influence. Tucker does make a valid point when he says “They’re not just going to build these new EV factories and then just leave them silent for 20 years…Automakers don’t make planning decisions on a four year horizon…It’s more like a 10-15 year horizon.” In other words, it’s great to promise something but implementation and actually seeing a difference takes time, sometimes even years.

Final Thoughts

With Donald Trump winning the Presidential spot of the United States for 2024, let’s see how much of what was promised actually comes true. It’s only a matter of time before we find out.