By Matthew Craffey | Commentary, The Federalist
When President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in as our 47th president of the United States on January 20, 2025, he will inherit an auto industry that has been greatly diminished in recent years. There are many reasons for this decline, including the misguided environmental policies of the Biden administration, Chinese market manipulation and exploitation, and trade deals and regulations that cripple American auto manufacturers.
Just how bad are things? Well, Stellantis (the parent company of Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, and Ram) reported a 48 percent profit decline in the first half of 2024, followed by a 27 percent drop in the third quarter. Astronomical fuel-efficiency fines from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have forced them to phase out their consumer-favored Hemi V8 engines from all four brands and to spend billions on developing electric vehicles (EVs) in which brand loyalists have no interest. From January to June of 2024, Ford reported that their EV division lost $2.5 billion (about $48,000 per vehicle sold). GM announced that it is working to reduce losses on electric vehicles by $2 billion to $4 billion in 2025 compared to 2024.