BREAKING: 1,000 Workers Laid Off at Georgia Battery Manufacturing Plant Thanks to Trump’s War on Clean Energy

Amidst massive job losses nationwide and spiking gas prices, these layoffs were an intentional result of Trump’s policy to eliminate EVs as a choice for the American people 

Washington, DC – After Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans voted to end the electric vehicle (EV) tax incentives that revitalized the region, SK Battery Incorporated today laid off 1,000 workers at their $2.6 billion battery plant in Commerce, Georgia. According to Climate Power’s Energy Crisis Snapshot, these layoffs come on top of 2,534 clean energy jobs that have been lost or delayed in Georgia on Trump’s watch. Meanwhile, China has been more than happy to step in to fill the gap by signing an EV trade deal with Canada, one of our closest allies.

The news comes as Americans face surging prices at the pump thanks to Trump’s war in Iran. Republican lawmakers sided with Trump to kill the American EV industry, stripping Americans of their choice in vehicles, a move which will increase gas prices by at least 25 cents per gallon and preserve Big Oil’s monopoly on roadway transportation. Trump told Reuters that he doesn’t “have any concern” about skyrocketing gas prices, despite the fact that they have risen at the fastest pace since 2005. 

Climate Power Senior Advisor Jesse Lee issued the following statement: “These layoffs represent a direct Trump betrayal. As the latest jobs report shows America hemorrhaging jobs, 1,000 workers in Georgia got pink slips because Trump wants to kill American EV manufacturing. Every Republican lawmaker in Georgia knew the state’s working families would be crushed this way, but they all cowered before Trump. With gas prices spiking, Trump is stripping Americans of their consumer choice because his oil donors wanted to kill the competition. China is more than happy to gobble up all the EV and clean energy jobs that Trump is destroying, while the American people get nothing but layoffs and skyrocketing energy costs across the board.”

While China’s EV sales are booming, Trump’s reckless energy policies have decimated American EV manufacturing: 

• Our Next Energy, an electric vehicle manufacturing plant, laid off 29 employees at their Detroit plant. 

• An electric vehicle battery plant in Kentucky closed its doors in December 2025, killing 1,600 workers.

• A battery plant canceled a project in Missouri, citing “regulatory changes”, killing 1,000 jobs. 

• In just two months, seven clean energy projects were closed in Michigan, including General Motors laying off 1,200 workers at its electric vehicle plant in Detroit, along with hundreds of additional permanent and temporary layoffs at battery plants in Ohio and Tennessee.  

• In October, Fox 2 Detroit reported that over 100 employees at Dana Incorporated, an electric vehicle battery component manufacturer in Auburn Hills, Michigan, had been laid off.

• General Motors canceled a $55 million factory that would have created 300 jobs, citing “decisions of the DOE”. 

• Fortescue blamed U.S. “policy settings” and the elimination of “critical tax credits” in Trump and Republicans’ budget bill for the cancellation of their $210 million Detroit EV battery factory. 

• Trump’s federal energy policies contributed to battery startup, Natron Energy, shutting down and canceling its planned $1.4 billion factory in Eastern North Carolina, which would have created 1,000 jobs.