Farley speaks at last month's Detroit Auto Show. Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Ford CEO Jim Farley met with lawmakers on the Hill on Wednesday after he warned publicly about President Trump's tariff regime and possible layoffs if Republicans repeal IRA incentives.
Why it matters: U.S. automakers have made big bets on EVs, but the consumer tax credit is one of the most attractive GOP repeal targets in reconciliation.
Driving the news: At the Wolfe Research Auto, Auto Tech and Semiconductor Conference, Farley said IRA repeal would put jobs at risk at "battery production and assembly plants all through Ohio and Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee."
- But he struck a more conciliatory tone coming out of meetings on the House side.
- He told Axios that his company is "really excited about what the Trump administration is committed to in terms of making a stronger U.S. auto industry."
Between the lines: One of those battery plants in which Ford has invested big money — a joint venture with South Korea's SK On — sits in the district of Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, a leading Hill opponent of EV subsidies and tailpipe regs.
- Guthrie told Daniel on Wednesday he hadn't met with Farley — but that the Ford plant wouldn't sway his thinking on the 30D EV credit.
- "I'm concerned about the growth of that plant, but I'm not going to vote to mandate people buy a car that comes out of that," he said. "Just because something's in my district, I shouldn't mandate that people have to buy it."
