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EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, a Republican, speaks as the U.S. vice president visits East Palestine, Ohio, U.S., February 3, 2025.
The EPA’s new mission: business first, environment last
The new administration has already revised its legal framework for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, rolled back CO₂ and mercury limits on power plants, and reversed tailpipe regulations that were steering the US auto industry toward electric vehicles. Achieving Zeldin’s new vision means slashing environmental regulations, a move that earned Donald Trump praise on the campaign trail. These changes should make it cheaper and easier for businesses to build and expand.
While this may be good news for gas prices, it’s bad news for the environment and public health. The administration has called for the closure of all EPA offices addressing the disproportionately high levels of air and water pollution in poor communities, pollution that has been linked to higher rates of cancer and respiratory illnesses. These changes follow last year’s Supreme Court Chevron decision, which stripped the agency of much of its regulatory authority over industries.A worker is assembling auto parts on a production line at the Li Auto Manufacturing base in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, on March 27, 2024.
Canada in lockstep on Chinese auto software
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freelandannounced Tuesday that Canada may ban Chinese-made software in vehicles, following a similar plan from the US government.
Canada recently announced a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, along with 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel. China has announced it will challenge the tariffs at the World Trade Organization, where it could succeed. A security-based ban on software would potentially represent a surer way of closing the door on Chinese electric vehicles, which threaten to overwhelm North American manufacturers.
Governments in both Canada and the United States have sunk tens of billions into tax credits, rebates, and subsidies for EV manufacturers, but China, which has had a huge head start, looks able to outcompete the North Americans unless they are prevented by trade barriers.
The announcement by Freeland is another sign that those trade barriers are likely to be imposed in unison, since the Canadians want to be in lockstep to ensure continued access to the enormously important US market. The protectionist measures will slow the electrification of North America passenger vehicles, but leaders in both countries seem to have decided that it is politically impossible to surrender their markets to China.