“We ended the last administration's insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction.”

Inaugural address (and repeated in numerous subsequent venues)

There was no electric vehicle mandate to end. No federal policy ever required Americans to buy EVs or automakers to sell them. President Biden set a non-binding goal that EVs reach half of new vehicle sales by 2030, and EPA's 2024 emissions standards for model years 2027– 2032 gave manufacturers multiple compliance pathways, including hybrids and cleaner gasoline engines. Fact-checkers at AP, CBS, and others have repeatedly rated the 'mandate' framing false.

Far from being 'saved,' auto workers lost their jobs by the thousands after the rollback. Companies canceled roughly $22 billion in announced U.S. EV and battery projects in 2025 alone, against just $3.4 billion in cancellations in 2023 and 2024 combined. Ford shut a $5.8 billion Kentucky battery plant, costing 1,600 jobs; GM blamed regulatory changes for 3,300 layoffs at plants in Detroit, Ohio, and Tennessee; and SK Battery laid off 1,000 workers in Georgia.

Killing the $7,500 consumer EV tax credit on September 30, 2025 cratered the market the workers depended on: U.S. EV sales fell 27% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, even as global competitors (above all China) raced ahead. Surrendering the fastest-growing segment of the world auto market is not protection from 'economic destruction'; it is a recipe for it.