Harris, in Michigan, Tries to Head Off Trumps Attacks Over Gas Cars

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday sought to rebut a frequent argument from former President Donald J.Trump that she would mandate the end of gasoline-powered cars, issuing a rare direct response to her White House rival’s exaggerations and misleading claims.Speaking at a rally in Flint, a mid-Michigan city whose onetime cadre of thriving auto factories never recovered from closures in the 1980s, Ms.

Harris tried to reassure voters in the state, who are being bombarded by Trump ads that claim she “wants to end all gas-powered cars.”“Michigan, let us be clear,” she said.“Contrary to what my opponent is suggesting, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive.

But here’s what I will do.I will invest in communities like Flint.”The politics of the nation’s slow march toward more electric vehicles have been tricky in Michigan, a battleground state that is home to the nation’s three major automakers.

As the climate crisis has worsened, President Biden’s administration has required emissions standards that will most likely require about half of the new cars sold in the United States to emit zero emissions by 2032.To reach that goal, the Biden administration has offered incentives to manufacturers who produce electric vehicles and tax credits for consumers who buy them.But the batteries that power electric vehicles require fewer workers to construct them than the gas-powered engines that have long been the heartbeat of Michigan’s auto industry.That has led Mr.

Trump and other Republicans, whose campaigns are funded in part by oil and gas company executives, to warn of mass job losses for auto workers if the nation transitions to more electric vehicles.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your p...