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With the election in the rearview mirror, things are rightfully shifting from ensuring victory to focusing on delivering results. When the alternative was Kamala Harris, accepting disagreement was not only understandable but paramount. Now that Donald Trump has come out victorious, outcomes matter, and he’s about to face his first big test. 

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The big three American automakers and the UAW union are preparing to pressure the incoming president to keep Joe Biden’s disastrous EV mandates in place. 

Three of the nation’s largest automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, are strategizing with other car manufacturers on how to make a delicate request of President-elect Donald J. Trump: Don’t scrap the federal regulations that compel the industry to sell electric vehicles.

The conversation would require diplomatic finesse. Mr. Trump has railed against the E.V. rules, which strictly limit the amount of tailpipe pollution while also ramping up fuel economy standards. They are designed to get carmakers to produce more E.V.s and have been a cornerstone of President Biden’s fight against climate change.

Mr. Trump sees them differently. He has falsely said the rules amount to a Democratic mandate that would prevent Americans from buying the gasoline-powered cars of their choice — a concern of his campaign donors from the oil industry.

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All of Trump’s prior criticisms of EV mandates were correct. They do amount to a de facto ban on gasoline-powered vehicles despite the Times’ best efforts to claim that’s false above. The strict emissions standards put in place would force manufacturers to make EVs at least two-thirds of all new cars sold. That’s eight times the current number. That would mean lots of people would not be able to get the gas-powered cars they want while used prices of gas-powered cars would no doubt skyrocket. It would be a disaster for Americans. 

Big Auto, which has long supported Democrats politically, sees the EV mandates and subsidies as a cash cow, though. They’ve put infrastructure in place to take advantage and they don’t want to lose that. That’s also the reason the UAW is against ending EV mandates and subsidies. They have gotten used to suckling at the government teet and don’t want the free ride to stop. 

So where does that leave Trump in making a decision? He previously said he would end the mandate on “day one,” which can be done with the swipe of a pen.

“I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one,” Trump said in his address at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. The move would result in “saving the US auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now, and saving US customers thousands and thousands of dollars per car,” he said.

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Will he still do that? His nomination of PRO Act co-sponsor and Big Union supporter Lori Chavez-DeRemer to be labor secretary has made that a legitimate question. Still, this could actually be an opportunity because Trump has a chance to make a big statement here. 

If Trump follows through with ending all EV mandates and subsidies as he previously promised, it will show that while he’s friendly with the auto industry, he is not beholden to it. It would set the tone for what is to come in his final term and instill confidence in those who voted for him. This is a big one, and only time will tell.