What is the electric car mandate? Trump calls EV mandate a "disaster" in TIME interview, says Elon Musk agrees with him

On Thursday, December 12, Donald Trump was announced as TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for 2024. With the announcement, the magazine published an exclusive interview with the President-Elect, in which the subject of the EV mandate was brought up.

The electric car mandate was first announced in March 2024 by the Biden Administration. The former president announced a target of 56% of all new US vehicles sold to be electric by 2032, with the goal of dramatically reducing the emission of planet-warming gases in the country, BBC reported on March 21, 2024.

The measure increasingly limits the amount of pollution permitted from vehicle exhausts year by year. While the car companies will still be able to make petrol-powered vehicles, they must shrink the percentage of their total product line. Car-makers who do not follow the new standards are liable to face stiff fines.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these regulations could prevent 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 30 years.

---

Trump called the EV mandate a "disaster" in his TIME interview

While former President Biden was determined to bring down the carbon dioxide emission produced by the vehicle industry, Trump appears to be in opposition to it.

In his interview with TIME Magazine, when the President-elect was asked if he could consider his presidency to be a failure if the grocery prices didn't go down, he also included the EV mandate in his answer, saying:

"I think a very bad thing is this, what they're doing with the cars. I think they lost also because of cars. You know, there are a lot of reasons, but the car mandate is a disaster. The electric, the EV mandate."

When the interviewer asked Trump if Elon Musk - the CEO of Tesla - agreed with him, he said:

"He's never once even talked about the subject. He'll hear me speaking, you know, speaking, 'We must stop. I will immediately terminate the mandate.' Because I think he thinks I'm right."

The 78-year-old then went on to say that while he was a big fan of the electric car himself and believed that it was fantastic for "a slice of the audience," it was not for everyone.

Elsewhere in his TIME interview, Trump also called Elon Musk "a great friend" of his and gave him the best endorsement he could ever have.

Trump's statement about the EV mandate shouldn't come as a surprise considering the fact that he had also addressed it in his nomination speech back in July.

As the Business Standard reported on July 19, 2024, Trump took aim at Biden's EV policies in his presidential nomination speech, saying:

"I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one."

He also criticized what, according to him, was wasteful spending of trillions of dollars "having to do with the green new scam" in his speech. Trump then added that he would instead direct the money to projects like roads, bridges, and dams.

Per the news outlet, Trump has always been vocal about his disdain for EVs, believing they don't work and hurt American autoworkers while benefitting China and Mexico.

---

In addition to Trump's disdain for the EV mandate, car-makers are also facing troubles in making it a reality. Last month, on November 8, Toyota Motors spoke to CNBC News about how the California-led EV mandate seemed "impossible" to achieve.

Jack Hollis, the COO of North America's Toyota Motor's branch, said:

"I have not seen a forecast by anyone … government or private, anywhere that has told us that that number is achievable. At this point, it looks impossible. Demand isn’t there. It’s going to limit a customer’s choice of the vehicles they want."

In light of these challenges, what changes Donald Trump makes in the current EV mandates remains to be seen after he joins office in January 2025.