Trump would gut Biden’s climate law if elected, say advisers

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Donald Trump is planning to gut President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law, increase investment in fossil fuels and roll back regulations aimed at accelerating the transition to electric vehicles if he is elected next year.

Senior campaign officials and advisers to the former president told the Financial Times that he would seek to radically overhaul US climate and energy policy to “maximise fossil fuel production”.

They added that the Inflation Reduction Act — the centrepiece of Biden’s economic strategy, with $369bn in tax breaks and subsidies for clean energy — would be in Trump’s crosshairs. 

“Some of the price tags involved with some of these credits seem to be wildly understated,” a senior Trump campaign official told the FT. “We’d be looking to cut a lot of that spending.”

Trump has made no secret of his opposition to the IRA, which he has described as the “biggest tax hike in history”. He has railed against his successor’s climate policies, which he has blamed for raising the price of gasoline and compromising what he claimed was his achievement of securing US “energy independence”. Read more about the candidate’s plans to scrap energy rules.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• UK energy: Regulator Ofgem announces an update to the energy price cap for the first three months of 2024.

• Economic data: S&P Global releases manufacturing and services purchasing managers’ indices for France, Germany, Italy and the UK.

• Central banks: Turkey’s central bank issues an interest rate decision, and the European Central Bank publishes minutes from its last policy meeting.

• Results: British airline Jet2, transport company FirstGroup and Virgin Money UK report.

After expanding our ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing companies this year, the FT is seeking entries for the third annual list, to be published in early June 2024. Apply here to be considered.

Five more top stories

1. The release of at least 50 civilian hostages held in Gaza is not expected to start before tomorrow, after Israel and Hamas agreed a deal for their release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a four-day halt to hostilities. Israel’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said yesterday evening that the release of hostages would start “not before Friday”.

2. The UK’s budget watchdog has warned that overall taxes are rising to a postwar high after chancellor Jeremy Hunt cut UK business and personal taxes by £20bn in yesterday’s Autumn Statement. The Office for Budget Responsibility said the tax cuts were dwarfed by the impact of the government’s freeze on tax thresholds between 2022-23 and 2028-29 and would provide only “a modest” boost to growth.

3. Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders is on course to win the most votes in yesterday’s parliamentary elections in the Netherlands. Wilders’ Freedom party is projected to win 35 seats, doubling its total, according to an exit poll. The poll by Ipsos has proved to be a reliable guide in past elections to the final results, which are expected this morning. The victory, if confirmed, is expected to send shockwaves through the EU.

4. Japanese carmaker Nissan is set to build two new electric models at its UK plant as part of an investment expected to be worth more than £1bn. The company’s decision to manufacture electric successors to its current Qashqai and Juke models at its Sunderland factory has been aided by financial support from the British government.

5. Mintz Group is struggling to secure the release of five local employees detained in China despite warming ties with the US, eight months after a raid on the American due diligence firm’s Beijing office. The investigation has alarmed foreign investors in the country, who are hoping a recent thaw in diplomatic relations might help the firm’s cause.

News in-depth

Under the leadership of its talismanic founder Changpeng Zhao, Binance grew from nothing in 2017 to almost 60 per cent of the global cryptocurrency market less than a year ago. On Tuesday, US authorities laid out how it got there: putting profit ahead of compliance. That included acting as a conduit for the flow of money linked with child abuse, drugs and financing to designated terrorist groups such as Hamas and al-Qaeda, turning a blind eye to some of the darkest corners of the online world.

What we’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

In its evaluation of chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast that the share of public spending in gross domestic product will decline from 45.1 per cent in the 2022-23 financial year to 42.9 per cent in 2027-28. That would be smaller than the squeeze in the 2010s, writes Martin Wolf, but it would still be sizeable.

Take a break from the news

By the end of this year, tequila is forecast to overtake vodka and whiskey as the most valuable spirits category in the US. Can it conquer the world?

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm