By David Shepardson
YORK, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday that if elected he would consider ending the $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles and would be open to appointing Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk to a cabinet or advisory position.
“Tax credits and tax incentives are generally not a good thing,” Trump told Reuters in an interview after a campaign event in York, Pennsylvania, when asked about electric vehicle credits.
Asked if he would consider appointing Musk to an advisory or cabinet position, Trump said he would. “He’s a very smart guy. I would certainly do it, and if he did it, I would certainly do it. He’s a brilliant guy,” Trump said.
Last month, Musk publicly endorsed Trump in the U.S. presidential race. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If elected, Trump could take steps to repeal Treasury Department rules that made it easier for automakers to take advantage of the $7,500 credit or he could ask Congress to repeal it entirely. While president, Trump sought to repeal the electric vehicle tax credit, which was later expanded by President Joe Biden in 2022.
“I haven’t made any final decisions on it,” Trump said of the electric car tax credit. “I’m a big fan of electric cars, but I’m a big fan of gasoline cars, hybrids and whatever else may come in the future.”
He added that he would roll back Biden administration rules that would have forced automakers to build more electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to meet stricter emissions standards, and said he sees a “much smaller market” for electric vehicles due to cost and battery range issues.
Trump also said Monday he would take steps to discourage exports of vehicles made by the Detroit Three and other Mexican automakers to U.S. consumers by imposing new tariffs and would bar Chinese automakers from building new plants in Mexico to make vehicles for the U.S. market. Trump has made similar threats during his presidency.
“If you put tariffs on those cars, they’re going to come here. It’s very simple. It’s not complicated. If you say to Mexico, ‘Look, you’re stealing our auto industry,’ which is what they’re doing now,” Trump said.
But Trump is open to Chinese automakers and others building vehicles in the United States. “We’ll give incentives, and if China and other countries want to come here and sell cars, they’ll build factories here, they’ll hire our workers. We’ll make our own cars. I want to make our own cars,” Trump said.
Separately, Trump has been highly critical of Alphabet Inc’s Google but declined to say whether he thinks the tech company should be broken up after a judge ruled this month that Google is an illegal monopoly.
“It’s almost like the Wild West,” Trump said of Google, without specifying what punishment the company should face. “They’re going to have to pay a big price,” he added.
Trump has previously said he would block a ban on the short-video app TikTok despite a law passed in April that sets a Jan. 19, 2025, deadline for Chinese company ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets. Asked if he could accept continued Chinese ownership of TikTok, Trump did not directly answer but said ByteDance could sell.
“It’s very hard to ban something like that, because you’re talking about freedom of speech,” Trump said. “You’re talking about a lot of different things that go into that equation, but TikTok has treated me very well.”