USA: Toyota denounces the "discriminatory" subsidies provided for electric cars
The US Congress plans to "offer an additional 4,500 dollars grant only for electric vehicles manufactured by workers who decided to join a union", deplores Toyota in a press release.
"What do we say to the American consumer? What if he wants to buy an electric vehicle that is not made by Ford, General Motors or Chrysler (the three American giants, editor's note), he will have to pay 4.500 dollars more," deploresthe industrialist.
The White House and Congress last week found the framework for an agreement for the gigantic investments wanted by Joe Biden.
This text, still discussed at the 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 alsoof American manufacturing.
Ambassadors in the United States of 24 countries, including France, Germany, Mexico, Canada and Japan, had sent a letter to elected officials on Saturday.
According to them, "this type of practice (...) discriminates for foreign car manufacturers and harms international trade agreements".
Mexico and Canada notably specified that this measure does not comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA), which had replaced Alena (North American free trade agreement) in January 2020.
This subsidy "would reduce the choice of consumers on the market, to two vehicles only eligible for total credit (of tax), on more than 50 vehicles currently available," underline these ambassadors.
This would exclude manufacturers who do not make their cars in the United States, but also Tesla.
"It seems counterproductive to achieve our common carbon emissions objectives," they add.
The powerful American automotive union, the UAW (United Auto Workers), mainly represented at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, had, on the contrary, in a statement, praised 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 unionized jobs," he said in a statement.
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