Trump’s War on Clean Energy Cancels More Than 6,000 Jobs in North Carolina 

Gas prices are surging thanks to Trump’s war in Iran and while Trump and the GOP gut American EV manufacturing – stripping Americans of their choice in vehicles

 Trump and the GOP’s war on clean energy has ceded the future to China, whose EV manufacturing industry is “booming” 

Washington, DC – An electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing factory that had planned to bring 7,500 jobs to Chatham, North Carolina, announced it is significantly downsizing its plans, cutting more than 6,000 jobs. Last month, an EV battery manufacturer blamed the Republican budget bill and “changes in (the Inflation Reduction Act)” for their decision to delay groundbreaking on a $650 million factory, putting 500 good-paying union jobs on hold. According to Climate Power’s Energy Crisis Snapshot, 2,635 clean energy jobs have been canceled, lost or delayed in North Carolina since Trump took office. 

Republican lawmakers voted to kill the American EV industry in their budget bill, driving even our closest allies to buy EVs from China. While North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis warned of the damage the GOP budget bill would do, Trump’s hand-picked candidate to replace him, Michael Whatley, has continued to cheerlead the bill that is killing North Carolina jobs. Now, as Trump’s war in Iran sends gas prices through the roof, his vendetta against clean energy is canceling EV manufacturing projects and leaving Americans vulnerable to global oil shocks. 

Climate Power Senior Advisor Jesse Lee issued the following statement: “Trump promised to bring back American manufacturing, but instead, he’s left a trail of canceled jobs and shuttered factories. Now, as gas prices spike because of his war in Iran, Trump has stripped Americans of their consumer choice – all to satisfy his billionaire oil and gas donors. China has been more than happy to step in to fill the gap, sprinting ahead in the race to power our global economy. For Trump, it’s billionaires first, North Carolinians last.” 

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

• Earlier this month, SK Battery Incorporated laid off nearly 1,000 workers at their $2.6 billion battery plant in Commerce, Georgia. 

• 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 1,500 jobs.

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

• General Motors laid 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.