During an interview with the “Fox News Rundown” podcast released on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reacted to auto companies delaying electric vehicle investments by stating that while the companies are adjusting production, “there is no going back.” And “We can’t pretend that the old technologies will work in a new century, with a new economy.”
Host Jessica Rosenthal asked, [relevant exchange begins around 13:10] “[D]o we have a setback then, after the UAW strike? It sounds like the Biden administration and the president himself said, okay, side with the workers. And now we see Ford, Stellantis, GM, all saying they’re deferring or delaying investments in EVs and production, billions of dollars in delays. How big an impact is that?”
Buttigieg responded, “They’re adjusting their production, but there is no going back. And I think that the workers were able to achieve something very important, which is basically to say, as these new technologies develop, we want to make sure that autoworkers in the 21st century do just as well or better as they did in the 20th century. That’s personal for me. I come from the industrial Midwest. My hometown of South Bend was home to Local 5 and Local 9. I saw the great middle-class incomes that were made possible by automotive jobs. But what I also saw that’s on my mind in the EV debate is I saw what happens when a company falls apart because it can’t innovate and keep up with the times. We can’t let that happen again. We can’t let America be left behind. We can’t pretend that the old technologies will work in a new century, with a new economy.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
