Trump tells Michigan Republicans that EVs will ‘decimate’ state’s auto industry

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Donald Trump told an audience of MichiganRepublicans that the push for electric vehicles will mean the “decimation” of the state’s traditional auto industry.

The former president made the comments as he appeared at the Oakland County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner on Sunday night, his first appearance in the battleground state in the 2024 cycle.

“It’s going to be a level that people can’t even imagine,” Mr Trump said during his address inside the Suburban Collection Showplace, in Novi, Michigan.

Mr Trump told the crowd that the “maniacal push” for electric vehicles would kill auto jobs in the United States, and mocked the range of the vehicles, saying that they were a win for “tow truck companies.”

“If somebody wants an electric car, I’m all for it. But you should be able to have a choice,” Mr Trump told the crowd.

The event came the day after he told a crowd of evangelicals on Saturday that the federal government has a “vital role” in the restriction of abortion access while he once again took credit for overturning Roe v Wade.

But the former president did not detail his proposal for national abortion restrictions, in contrast to his 2024 rival Mike Pence, who supports outlawing care nationally at 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Mr Trump’s remarks to a Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Washington DC came on the one-year anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s decision to revoke constitutional protections for abortion. Though he has repeatedly taken credit for the ruling, he has avoided questions about whether he would back a national ban if Republican lawmakers managed to pass one through Congress.