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Donald Trump Reportedly Offers Oil Execs End To EV Incentives For $1 Billion In Donations
The outcome of the upcoming American presidential election could have a huge impact, one way or another, for many business sectors relation to EVs, natural gas and those related to the environment
Politicians set agendas and platforms, which they use to attract voters and get elected. These promises they make, and whether they honor them can quickly become their legacy if they are voted into office. Things could become interesting if presidential candidate Donald Trumpfollows through on a recent report that he offered to end electric vehicle incentives if they would donate $1 billion to his election campaign.
Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow of The Washington Post reported that Trump held a meeting in April at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida with some of the top American oil executives. It was there that the businessmen allegedly complained about the high expense of lobbying against environmental regulations enacted by president Joe Biden, with many of them focused on encouraging consumers to embrace electric vehicles.
Dawsey and Joselow reported that according to multiple anonymous sources who had intimate knowledge of the meeting, Trump surprised many in the room by telling the executives that if they could raise $1 billion for his campaign coffers, he would be willing to not only reverse Biden’s environmental policies, but also prevent new initiatives from coming to fruition should he return to the Oval Office. One attendee of the meeting recalled that the former president vowed that if he gets the money he requested, “You’ll get it on the first day,” referring to how quickly he’d be willing to reverse the current Biden freeze on new liquefied natural gas permits.
While Biden has strongly embraced EVs among other environmental causes, Trump has a history of the opposite, including his assessment that climate change is a “hoax.” His administration was also marked by a persistent mission geared towards deregulation, eliminating many protections and incentives established under previous presidencies.
The Biden administration has spent vast amounts of money and put numerous policies in place to support electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and other earth-friendly measures. The reversal of some or all of these would represent a potentially catastrophic changing landscape to many companies and organizations, not least of which being EV manufacturers.
At this time, there was only reportedly an offer from Trump of what he was willing to do for a price applied towards getting him back in office. It remains to be seen if anyone would take him up on it, or if he would follow through if he did get the desired donation. However, as we head towards the November election, the impact such an extreme shift in policy might represent is something deserving of the attention of investors and others in the business world.
