DESPERATE: Biden Admin to Ease Electric Vehicle Goals in Bid for Union Support: REPORT

The Biden administration is planning to ease restrictions this spring on tailpipe emissions that were put in place to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles (EV) in a bid to appeal to unions and the auto industry, according to The New York Times.

The rules would give automakers more time to facilitate the EV transition, with looser emissions standards meaning that automakers would have until after 2030 to switch over the bulk of their production, as opposed to just a few years under current regulations, according to the NYT. President Joe Biden has long sought to curry the favor of union workers, particularly the United Auto Workers, who endorsed the president in the 2024 presidential election last month but are wary of the effect that an EV transition could have on their current jobs, as less labor is required to produce an EV and their production is not covered under the same union contract.

The current regulations were proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency last spring, and when in full effect, they would mean that automakers would have to sell a large number of zero-emission vehicles in a tight window, according to the NYT. The plan would lead to around 67% of new car sales being electric by 2032, compared to just 7.6% today.

Former President Donald Trump has also tried to appeal to union workers, meeting with officials and rank-and-file members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters twice in January. Trump has also explicitly asked for the UAW’s endorsement in a video in July 2023, where he criticized the Biden administration’s EV policies, saying that they hurt auto workers.

The Biden administration’s goals of electrifying America’s vehicles have faced severe headwinds from poor demand, with sales only increasing from 3.1% in January 2023 to 3.6% in December 2023 in terms of market value despite an increase in the share of inventory from 2.8% to 5.7% in that same time frame. The administration’s rollout of EV chargers has also run into red tape, leading to only two charging stations being built as of December despite $7.5 billion in allocated funds.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.