State AGs warn Trump charger proposal would kill US$5bn fund

A coalition of 20 state attorneys general, including those from California, New York, Michigan, Illinois, and Colorado, wrote to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) on 16 March opposing President Donald Trump’s proposal to raise domestic content requirements for federally funded electric vehicle (EV) chargers from 55% to 100%. The coalition said the proposal would make it “impossible for manufacturers to achieve” compliance and thereby halt the further deployment of charging infrastructure.

As it stands, US$5bn in funds are allocated for charging under the Biden-era National EV Infrastructure programme (NEVI). Andy Beshear, governor of one of the US’ most conservative states, Kentucky, also co-signed the letter. 

The new content requirements proposal was put forward by the Department of Transportation in February, and would require that all components and materials used in federally-funded chargers be mined, produced, or manufactured inside the US. Industry groups and the state coalition have fired back that, essentially, the proposal is little more than an attempt to strangle charging infrastructure deployment in its entirety. 

No commercially available charger in the US currently meets even the existing 55% threshold, let alone 100%. Indeed, several critical components common among most domestically-used chargers are not made inside the US whatsoever—information the FHA would have likely been aware of when making the proposal. The agency, for its part, has said it is gathering stakeholder feedback before deciding whether to finalise, modify, or withdraw the rule.

The states also argue that the proposal is procedurally illegal. The 55% domestic content threshold was set by Congress, and the coalition contends that FHA cannot exceed it via a waiver, which is the administrative mechanism being used to try and implement the change. California alone has approximately US$460m in NEVI funds at risk, with state agencies and local authorities unable to proceed on charging projects if the rule takes effect.

President Trump’s efforts to roll back his predecessor’s electrification agenda have been thwarted previously. In January 2026, District Judge Tana Lin ruled that his administration acted unlawfully when it froze NEVI funding the year previous, finding that the executive branch cannot withhold congressionally appropriated funds for reasons not authorised by statute. As part of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ tax bill, federal tax credits for EV and hybrid purchases were reversed in September 2025, and there is little reason to believe a similar reversal is on the horizon for this measure.

The Trump administration has framed the proposal as the latest in a series of measures intended to strengthen domestic manufacturing and address national security concerns around foreign-sourced components. Industry groups have rejected that framing, arguing the rule would discourage rather than stimulate investment in US charger production by eliminating the federal funding that makes such investment commercially viable. 

By setting a compliance bar no product on the market can clear, the administration is arguably trying to neutralise a US$5bn programme without having to deal with the legal exposure of simply withholding the money. The states’ coalition has identified this mechanism clearly, but challenging a domestic content rule on procedural grounds is a slower and less certain path than the one that produced Judge Lin’s January ruling.

“This proposal does not meet industry where it is today and may discourage further investment in the production of US-made EV chargers,” said Albert Gore, Executive Director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, at the time of the proposal’s announcement [note: not the former Vice President].