BRUSSELS — Germany said Europe should refrain from borrowing more money to compete with U.S. green subsidies or its competitiveness will be threatened.
The EU has been vocal about its concerns over the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), saying its subsidies to North American car manufacturers breach international trade rules and threaten European businesses. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday “new and additional funding at the EU level” will be needed to make European companies more competitive in the transition to a greener economy.
But over in Berlin, her idea was received with some skepticism.
“The Inflation Reduction Act of the U.S. is the opportunity, the invitation, to reconsider our competitiveness,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told CNBC Monday.
“There are some parts of Ursula von der Leyen initiative which [need] to be further debated, especially her proposal of [a] European sovereignty fund. If that means kind of rebranding of existing tools, I’m open for discussion. If sovereignty funds mean new common European debt, then I think this would not be an improvement of our competitiveness or stability, it would be a threat for competitiveness and stability,” he said.
The ideas suggested by the head of Europe’s executive arm are still at an initial stage, meaning there are no formal proposals on the table. However, they indicate where the commission believes the bloc should go to be in a better position to compete with the United States.
The IRA — approved by U.S. lawmakers in August — includes a record $369 billion in spending on climate and energy policies. The landmark package comprises tax credits for electric cars made in North America and supports U.S. battery supply chains.
“We have all heard the stories of producers that are considering to relocate future investment from Europe to the U.S.,” von der Leyen said Sunday.
What other European ministers are saying
Swedish battery maker Northvolt is, according to the Financial Times, considering expanding its production stateside and benefiting from some of the subsidies. Another report last month suggested the company may delay a decision to build a new plant in Germany.
Speaking to CNBC Monday, Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag also said she prefers “to take stock of what’s already out there [in terms of funding for greener initiatives] and either we repurpose or we refocus.”
Likewise, Ireland’s Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said: “It goes without saying that it is a lose-lose, if we were all using the taxpayers money in different parts of the world to compete with each other.”
U.S. and EU officials have held several talks on how to adapt some of the rules within the IRA to take into consideration some of the concerns raised in Europe. One of those meetings took place in Maryland on Monday.
“We also took stock of the work of the dedicated U.S.-EU Task Force on the Inflation Reduction Act and noted the preliminary progress made. We acknowledge the EU’s concerns and underline our commitment to address them constructively,” a joint statement said following the meeting.
Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden said that tweaks could be made “to make it easier for European countries to participate” in the subsidies provided by the IRA.
It’s that time of year again, time for events across the country to show off electric vehicles at Drive Electric Earth Month.
Drive Electric Earth Month is an offshoot of Drive Electric Week, a long-running annual tradition hosting meetups mostly in the US, but also occasionally in other countries. It started as Drive Electric Earth Day, but since not every event can happen on the same day, they went ahead and extended it to encompass “Earth Month” events that happen across the month of April. It’s all organized by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, the Electric Vehicle Association, EV Hybrid Noire, and Drive Electric USA.
Events consist of general Earth Day-style community celebrations, EV Ride & Drives where you can test drive several EVs in one place, and opportunities to talk to EV owners and ask them questions about what it’s like to live with an EV, away from the pressure of a dealership.
This month, there are 158 events registered across the US and 1 in Mexico (including one online webinar about things to consider when purchasing an EV).
Events have been happening all month, but the biggest weekend is this upcoming one, APril 26-27.
One really neat event was the Asheville event, which showcased the resiliency of EVs in an area devastated by Hurricane Helene, which was made more severe by climate change. That event was attended by the Rivian R1T which famously got dragged 100 feet submerged in mud and came out running fine.
But the bulk of the events happened on the weekends surrounding Earth Day, April 22, so there were several last weekend and will be even more this upcoming weekend.
There are plenty of events in the big cities where you’d expect, but Plug In America wanted to highlight a few of the events in smaller places around the country. Here’s a sampling of upcoming events:
- Big Island EV – Cruise and Picnic in Waimea, HI on April 26, 10am-1pm – EV drivers will congregate in various places around the Big Island (Kona, Waimea, Waikoloa and Hilo), then drive up Saddle Road to the Gil Kahele Recreation Area on Mauna Kea for a potluck and a chance to talk about the experience of owning EVs on the Big Island.
- Santa Barbara Earth Day 2025 and Green Car Show in Santa Barbara, CA on April 26-27, 11am-8pm – This is part of Santa Barbara’s Earth Day celebration, which routinely attracts 30,000 participants and is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations on the planet. The Green Car Show includes ride & drives and an “Owners Corner” where owners can showcase their EVs and attendees can check them out and ask questions.
- Earth Day’25 – EV’s role in a sustainable future in Queretaro City, Mexico on April 26, 9am-4pm – The sole Mexican event, this is a combined in-person/online seminar at the Querétaro Institute of Technology.
- Norman Earth Day Festival in Norman, OK on April 27, 12-5pm – Another municipal Earth Day festival, with hands-on activities for kids to learn about the environment. A portion of the parking lot reserved for an EV car show for EV owners who pre-register to show off their vehicles.
- Oregon Electric Vehicle Association Test Drive & Information Expo in Portland, OR on April 27, 10am-4pm – This one is at Daimler Truck’s North American HQ, and will have several EVs for test drives, owner displays (including DIY gas-to-EV conversions), and keynote presentations by EV experts. They’ll even have a 1914 Detroit Electric EV available for test rides!
- And, we at Electrek want to give a shoutout to Rove’s EV Drive Days in Santa Ana 10am-3pm April 28 – ROVE is the company behind the “full-service” EV charging concept that we’ve talked about several times here on Electrek, and we like what they’re doing for EV charging. They’ve hosted a few community events, and this is their contribution to Earth Month.
Each event has a different assortment of activities (e.g. test drives won’t be available at every event, generally just the larger ones attended by local dealerships), so be sure to check the events page to see what the plan is for your local event.
These events have offered a great way to connect with owners and see the newest electric vehicle tech, and even get a chance to do test rides and drives in person. Attendees got to hear unfiltered information from actual owners about the benefits and trials of owning EVs, allowing for longer and more genuine (and often more knowledgeable) conversations than one might normally encounter at a dealership.
And if you’re an owner – you can show off your car and answer those questions for interested onlookers.
To view all the events and see what’s happening in your area, you can check out the list of events or the events map. You can also sign up to volunteer at your local events, and if you plan to show off your electric car, you can RSVP on each event page and list the vehicle that you plan to show (or see what other vehicles have already registered).
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A cartoon image of US President-elect Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin token to mark the cryptocurrency reaching over $100,000 displayed at a Coinhero store in Hong Kong, China, on in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.
Justin Chin | Bloomberg | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will have to wait another three months before he can start selling his meme coin.
The $TRUMP token, which debuted in January just ahead of the president’s inauguration, was scheduled to begin unlocking a major tranche of insider-held tokens this month. But Trump token’s official X account said this week that all major unlocks, including the initial cliff and the next three months of daily vesting, would be delayed by an additional 90 days.
Only 20% of the supply of $TRUMP is available to trade. The remaining 80%, held by insiders, is locked under a three-year schedule, with tokens getting released in increments.
Lockups are meant to prevent a rug pull, the industry term for a scheme that allows insiders to quickly get rich while other investors lose from a slumping price. Vesting schedules are designed to reassure retail investors that early backers won’t dump their coins and immediately flood the market.
The $TRUMP token offered an early indication of the president’s willingness to leverage his power and political brand for financial gain. The market cap quickly surged to $15 billion, buoyed by Trump’s posts on Truth Social and X that declared, “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!”
On Wednesday, the $TRUMP token soared more than 50% after the project’s website offered the top 220 holders of the token dinner with the president on May 22 at his golf club near Washington, D.C.
As CNBC reported on Friday, Democratic Senators Adam Schiff of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are calling on the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether the promotion constitutes “pay to play” corruption.
Like most meme coins, $TRUMP has no underlying product or service. Following its launch in January, First Lady Melania Trump swiftly introduced her own token — $MELANIA — which briefly surpassed $2 billion in market value before tumbling along with $TRUMP.
Shortly after the release of the $TRUMP and $MELANIA coins, the SEC issued guidance stating that meme tokens don’t qualify as securities, effectively shielding the projects from immediate regulatory scrutiny.
The token’s creators have already made a fortune despite the trading restrctions. According to Chainalysis, the main wallet behind $TRUMP earned more than $350 million in USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, by acting as a market maker, collecting a fee on each trade.
The Trump family has another crypto project in the works.
World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance venture backed by the first family, has raised $550 million across two token sales since October. Buyers are barred from reselling their tokens and receive no share of profits — but a Trump-affiliated entity is entitled to 75% of net revenue, including token sale proceeds, according to offering documents reviewed by CNBC.
Environment
Podcast: Electrek at Shanghai Auto Show, Tesla earnings, Slate cheap EV pickup unveiled, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Electrek seeing a ton of cool EVs at the Shanghai Auto Show, Tesla’s disastrous earnings, Slate’s cheap EV pickup being unveiled, and more.
Today’s episode is brought to you by retrospec—makers of sleek, powerful e-bikes and outdoor gear built for everyday adventure. Electrek listeners can get 10% off their next ride until May 8th with the exclusive code ELECTREK10 only at retrospec.com.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):
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