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encourage American consumers to switch to electric. It is the stake of the Congress which plans to offer a new grant of 4500 dollars to a condition of size. The car has to be made by unionized workers. This project risks putting the competitors of Ford, General Motors or Chrysler at a disadvantage, not only all foreign manufacturers, but also Tesla, whose boss, Elon Musk, is openly hostile to unions.
This text, still discussed in Congress, provides for a maximum tax credit of $ 12,500 for electric vehicles. This sum includes the current deduction which can go up to 7,500 dollars to which is added a tax credit of 4,500 dollars if the vehicle is manufactured by unionized workers in the United States as well as 500 dollars if the battery is also American made.
Tesla blacklisted
Joe Biden called Ford, General Motors and Chrysler executives and the United Auto Workers (UAW) president to a meeting last August to create car buying incentives. electric. Elon Musk had not been invited.
"Weird that Tesla wasn't invited," Elon Musk tweeted. "I'm not saying it's sabotage. But it's sabotage."
During a press briefing, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked whether the sidelining of Tesla was linked to Elon Musk's refusal to recruit unionized workers. "These are the three main players in UAW. So I'll let you draw your own conclusion," replied Jen Psaki.
Tesla has a long-standing dispute with the UAW, which filed a complaint in 2017, accusing the group of sacking workers for their union sympathies. And last March, the US agency in charge of labor law (NLRB) rendered a decision unfavorable to the manufacturer.
The measure deemed "discriminatory" by 24 countries
This project is also strongly criticized by foreign manufacturers. Toyota qualifies these subsidies as "discriminatory".
"What do we say to the American consumer? That if he wants to buy an electric vehicle that is not manufactured by Ford, General Motors or Chrysler, he will have to pay 4,500 dollars more," protested Toyota.
The ambassadors to the United States from 24 countries, including France, Germany, Mexico, Canada and Japan, also sent a letter on Saturday to elected officials of the American Congress. They believe that "this type of practice (...) discriminates against foreign car manufacturers and harms international trade agreements".
Mexico and Canada have specified that this measure does not comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement, which replaced the NAFTA (North American free trade agreement) in January 2020. .
This subsidy "would reduce the choice of consumers on the market, to only two vehicles eligible for the total (tax) credit, out of more than 50 vehicles currently available", underline these ambassadors.
“It seems counterproductive to achieving our common carbon emissions targets,” they add.
In a statement, the powerful American automobile union, the UAW welcomes this bill. "For the transition to electric vehicles to work for our communities, we need policies that promote manufacturing in the United States and good union jobs," the union said.
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