Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ripped calls to buy electric vehicles (EVs) on Fox News Wednesday, claiming President Joe Biden and his administration are “happy being a customer to Chinese concentration camps.”
In an interview with “America’s Newsroom,” co-host Dana Perino asked Cruz to comment on a Wall Street Journal article which reported the U.S. gets a large amount of nickel from Russia and China in order to manufacture EV batteries.
“Many of the electric cars right now are made with batteries made either using Russian equipment and minerals or made in China using slave labor,” Cruz told Perino and co-host Bill Hemmer. “This administration is perfectly happy being a customer to the Chinese concentration camps and using slave labor to meet their political agenda.”
Cruz said both countries have a “strangle hold” on rare-Earth and critical minerals.
The senator added that every Democrat, with the exception of one, voted against his legislation to bar the U.S. from importing products manufactured in China and Chinese concentration camps.
Cruz said the Biden administration is not willing to “green light” the production of critical minerals domestically. He then said the president’s call to buy an electric car to alleviate the cost of rising gas prices does not work for those who cannot afford an EV. (RELATED: US Gas Prices Skyrocket At Record Rate Due To Russian Sanctions)
“If you look at the electric vehicles, Biden yesterday says, ‘Gosh, if you don’t like high gas prices buy an electric car.’ Well, that’s great if you’ve got the money to do it, but a lot of working folks don’t have that extra cash,” he continued.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Vice President Kamala Harris called for purchasing more EVs at the “Accelerating Clean Transportation” event Monday. Harris gave a speech calling on people to “imagine a future” where all transportation produces “zero emissions.” Buttigieg said EVs will help Americans save money on gasoline, which exceeded a record-high $4 per gallon Saturday.
“Last month, we announced a $5 billion investment to build a nationwide electric vehicle charging network for the people from rural to suburban to urban communities can all benefit from the gas savings of driving an EV,” he said.
The average price of an EV stood at $56,437 in November, 2021, according to Kelley Blue Book.
