ArcaMax

If Chinese leader Xi Jinping wanted to take down the U.S. auto industry -- and he probably does -- he couldn't have a better helper than Donald Trump. The American president's tireless efforts to slow America's shift to electricity-run transportation is a dream come true for China as it leads the world in that transition.

Electric vehicles are the cars and trucks of the future. In some parts of the world, that future is here. Norway now has more fully electric cars on its roads than the gas-powered kind.

China has put enormous resources behind the development and manufacture of EVs. The U.S. was on the case when Joe Biden was president. Trump is taking away those subsidies, thus messing with U.S. automakers' big plans to compete in this growing market.

The politics of it are also wild. About 80% of the Biden-era clean energy investments are in red states (or if they are rescinded, were).

In North Carolina, Toyota just unveiled a $13.9 billion battery plant in the small town of Liberty. Another maker of cutting-edge batteries will soon open near Raleigh, not far from a factory that builds charging infrastructure.

Trump also wants to take away money Congress appropriated for EV charging stations. That appears to be illegal, but Republicans in Congress seem more afraid of Trump than voters who could lose jobs.

But one Republican, Alabama's Gov. Kay Ivey, defends that funding. "Having strategic electric vehicle charging stations across Alabama not only benefits EV drivers, but it also benefits those companies that produce electric vehicles, including many of them right here in Alabama, resulting in more high-paying jobs for Alabamians."

All true.

Some observers surmise that Elon Musk sees a personal gain in slowing down the growth of charging stations. His Tesla currently has the largest network of fast chargers in the country. Adding chargers could help sales of EVs other than Elon's.

Potentially hurting the American automakers are the 25% tariffs Trump wants to slap on the parts they get from Canada and Mexico. This shared production arrangement makes U.S. cars more price-competitive on world markets, thus protecting the jobs of American workers.

But get this: Musk is now suing the European Union over its decision to put hefty tariffs on EVs made in China. Tesla, you see, makes more than half its EVs in China.

MAGA has been brainwashed to see evil behind efforts to direct American drivers away from fossil fuels. As a self-pitying Arizonan told The Wall Street Journal, EVs are "being pushed down our throats."

A Morning Consult poll taken last spring found that 4 in 10 Americans have unfavorable views of EVs. And 38% of those respondents said their political views were a factor.

One must ask: What mean man is forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles? No one is stopping you or me from going to an auto showroom or used car lot and driving off with a 100% gas-powered machine.

Having the U.S. government help a new domestic industry is what we call economic policy. When Henry Ford's first Model T rolled out of the factory in 1908, America had almost no paved roads beyond the cities.

Ford was a strong advocate for the kinds of roads his new cars needed to run on. He became the first chairman of the Wayne County Road Commission. The Federal-Aid Road Act was passed in 1916 and the Federal-Aid Highway Act in 1921.

Back to the present, sales of Chinese-made EVs rose 40% last year alone. China also has the world's largest network of charging stations.

Something tells us President Xi Jinping likes the way things are going in the age of Trump.

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Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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