To: Interested Parties
From: Evergreen Action Deputy Communications Director Seth Nelson
Date: July 15, 2025
Re: Trump’s Energy Price Hike: A.I. Boom, Energy Bust
Today, Donald Trump is set to descend on Pittsburgh to speak at Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick's inaugural AI energy summit. There, he’ll likely celebrate the rapid growth of power-hungry data centers, just days after signing the most catastrophic bill for the grid, the climate, and clean energy in a generation. The consequences will fall hardest on working-class families: skyrocketing utility bills, higher gas prices, more pollution, and a wave of destructive policies making everyday life more expensive.
Even before Trump’s Big Oil Billionaire Bill reached his desk, MAGA Republicans were already boasting about the deal they struck: support for final passage in exchange for a promise to gut what remains of the clean energy tax credits before they’re phased out. “We believe we’re going to get 90-plus percent of all future [clean energy] projects terminated,” Texas Republican Chip Roy told POLITICO—not even bothering to pretend Trump didn’t just pledge to crush a thriving American industry. Days later, Trump delivered on that promise, unleashing executive action to further sabotage the sector responsible for the vast majority of new power added last year.
When he takes the stage today, expect Trump to champion American AI infrastructure development while actively undermining the clean, homegrown power we need to support it. And expect him to tout his energy record, even as it directly contradicts his repeated campaign pledge to cut electricity bills in half.
We’ve been tracking the many ways Trump’s agenda is hiking costs for working-class Americans, selling them out to benefit oligarchs and the ultra-wealthy. Since our last update, he’s escalated his assault on clean power and working families alike, making it harder and more expensive to power homes, drive to work, and keep the lights on.
Here’s a breakdown of new actions Trump has taken since then, and how each is hitting Americans’ wallets:
Trump’s Energy Price Hike: An Updated Timeline
July 13: Trump escalates trade war with huge tariff threats on U.S. allies
Action: Trump ratcheted up his nonsensical trade war with our largest trading partners, announcing plans to impose a 30% tariff on all imports from Mexico and the European Union, and signaled similar tariffs on 23 other major trading partners, including Canada, Japan, and Brazil.
Impact: Trump’s trade war may be aimed at our allies, but it lands squarely on the backs of working-class Americans. Tariffs function as a national sales tax, raising prices on everyday goods, including energy-related imports. Because infrastructure like pipelines and refineries can’t quickly adjust, U.S. consumers will continue to rely on imported fuel, but with higher costs from tariffs passed directly onto them.
July 11: Trump set to obstruct massive Grain Belt Express transmission project
Action: Missouri Senator Josh Hawley announced that Trump and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright would be “putting a stop” to the Green Belt Express, a multi-state transmission line to deliver low-cost Kansas wind power to neighboring states.
Impact: The project was already under threat from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who recently opened a politically-motivated investigation to “ultimately [kill] this project.” Now, despite taking credit for the project (which has been in the works since 2010) and bipartisan support from leaders of the four states it crosses, Trump appears poised to obstruct it. Though it’s unclear how he will do so, Sen. Hawley has called on DOE Secretary Wright to cancel a $4.9 billion conditional loan for the project.
July 8: Trump’s liquefied “natural” gas (LNG) export expansion set to drive U.S. gas prices even higher
Action: On his first day in office, Trump lifted the freeze on new LNG export approvals. Now, a new forecast from his own administration confirms that LNG-driven demand will be a major factor pushing gas prices higher in the coming year.
Impact: Exporting more gas reduces domestic supply and raises consumer prices. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, LNG demand and U.S. gas production will be “two key drivers of price” moving forward. As Trump accelerates new export projects, Americans will pay more to heat their homes and power their lives.
July 8: Trump announces he will slap a 50% tariff on copper imports
Action: At a cabinet meeting last week, Trump told reporters, “I believe the tariff on copper, we’re going to make it 50%.” Copper is essential to electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, transmission lines, and other renewable energy infrastructure.
Impact: These tariffs will spike costs on raw materials needed to expand affordable clean energy and manufacture EVs. The tariffs will also increase the cost of manufacturing gas-powered cars in America, as copper is a crucial component in their production. This comes on the heels of Trump’s earlier pledge to slap a 25% tariff on all imported vehicles, claiming it would make people “start buying American cars.”
July 7: Trump signs executive order to restrict access to remaining clean energy tax credits
Action: Days after signing his megabill that repealed clean energy tax credits, Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Treasury to interpret the bill in the most restrictive ways possible, attempting to bully the industry out of existence.
Impact: By challenging long-established standards for what counts as “under construction,” Trump could make wind and solar projects ineligible for tax incentives even before they expire. Additionally, extreme interpretations of the “foreign-entity of concern” (FEOC) requirements, which block credits for projects sourcing materials from companies tied to countries like China, could make it very difficult to prove compliance—which could serve as a “backdoor way” to cancel clean energy projects altogether, according to experts. Wind and solar are the cheapest and fastest-to-build sources of new electricity. Trump’s meddling could drive prices even higher, just as demand is surging.
July 4: Trump signs Big Oil Billionaire Bill into law, making life more expensive for working-class Americans
Action: Declaring “coal is back,” Trump signed his Big Oil Billionaire Bill to kneecap American industry and make life harder and more expensive for working-class Americans into law.
Impacts:
- Kills Clean Energy Tax Credits: Trump delivered a major blow to clean energy development and deployment, which will make Americans even more reliant on fossil fuels, benefiting Big Oil executives and fossil fuel industry shareholders who have a vested interest in keeping prices high. As a result, Americans face an average energy price hike of $110 next year and up to $400 annually within a decade.
- Eliminates Residential Energy Tax Credit: Created under the George W. Bush administration, the Residential Energy Tax Credit helped homeowners install solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, battery systems, and more. Trump’s repeal means families will have to pay more for these upgrades, or forgo an average of $1,250 in annual energy savings. In 2023 alone, 1.2 million families used the credit, and one in every 20 households now has rooftop solar. By eliminating this incentive at a time of rising demand, Trump just effectively cut off a major source of new energy—and raised costs for everyone.
- Cuts Energy Efficiency Home Improvement Tax Credit: The law also eliminates a popular credit that helped families afford energy-efficient upgrades like heat pumps, water heaters, weatherization, and insulation. In 2023 alone, 2.3 million households used it and lowered their utility bills, saving up to $990 per year. Without it, these upgrades become more expensive for families who need them, and overall grid efficiency declines, putting more pressure on already strained energy systems and driving up costs for everyone.
- Sabotages local affordable energy projects for tribes, rural co-ops, and public power authorities: The law eliminates key exceptions to strict domestic sourcing requirements that allowed tax-exempt groups to claim clean energy tax credits as direct cash payments. Without these exceptions—such as when domestic components aren’t available or would significantly increase costs—it becomes nearly impossible for tribes, rural electric cooperatives, and public power authorities to move forward with affordable clean energy projects that lower utility bills and strengthen local energy resilience.
- Repeals the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF): As we’ve detailed in previous versions of this memo, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has waged a baseless campaign to discredit clean energy grants issued by the Biden administration through the GGRF, labeling them as fraudulent. Now, the new law formally repeals the fund and rescinds any unobligated balances, undermining the EPA’s ability to implement and oversee a program that was delivering investments to lower energy costs in the communities that need it most.
- Ends Environmental Justice Block Grants: This law repeals the first-of-its-kind $3 billion federal program designed to empower disadvantaged communities to address their own pollution burdens and clean energy needs. It rescinds more than $1 billion in unobligated funding, cutting off support projects that reduce indoor air pollution and counter health risks from extreme heat and wildfires, and help households transition from oil-based heating to cleaner, more efficient heat pumps that lower energy bills. While the EPA is also working to terminate nearly 800 already-awarded grants, this law guts the funding its staff needs to implement and oversee them.
July 3: Trump’s DOJ falsely claims Big Oil Billionaire Law claws back billions in already obligated GGRF funding
Action: Despite ongoing litigation over Trump’s illegal attempts to terminate $20 billion in clean energy grants, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) falsely claimed in a court filing that the Big Oil Billionaire Bill claws back $17 billion in already obligated funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).
Impact: As Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse put it, “wishful thinking [...] does not moot the ongoing litigation.” While the bill did repeal the GGRF and rescind unobligated funds, the money in question had already been obligated and disbursed. Climate United Fund, one of several nonprofits suing the EPA— called DOJ’s claim “a lie to justify illegal attempts to claw back funds” meant to help communities across the country. Their grant, for example, would support clean energy projects across the country, including one for an Alaska Native Village urgently in need of affordable power.
June 12: Trump signs away clean air protections in handout to polluters
Action: Trump signed three congressional resolutions targeting California’s landmark vehicle emissions standards, despite warnings from the Government Accountability Office and the Senate parliamentarian that the legal mechanism used was an abuse of authority.
Impact: California clean car standards have long set the pace for national policy, influencing emissions rules across the country. With the fourth-largest economy in the world, its leadership is critical to transitioning away from gas-powered vehicles. While Trump can’t stop the shift to EVs entirely, repealing this authority—on top of killing EV tax credits in megabill—will make it more expensive for Americans to switch to the cleaner, cost-saving vehicles.
June 12: Trump declares his administration will block new wind projects
Action: In a speech shortly before signing resolutions to repeal California’s vehicle emissions standards, Trump declared, “We’re not going to approve windmills” or “let windmills get built,” going beyond his administration’s previous claims that approval delays were only temporary. Just a day earlier, Heatmap News reported that federal agencies were still not processing applications for onshore wind projects.
Impact: Blocking or delaying these projects limits future grid capacity and drives up electricity prices by preventing affordable supply from meeting surging demand. Combined with the repeal of tax credits incentivizing wind development, Trump’s anti-renewable stance continues creating deep market uncertainty, raising costs for new and existing projects alike.
June 11: Trump’s EPA moves to unleash unlimited climate pollution, driving up bills and health risks
Action: Trump’s EPA proposed a rule to eliminate limits on climate pollution from coal and gas power plants, falsely claiming these emissions don’t contribute to climate change or dangerous pollution.
Impact: The move paves the way for broader attacks on clean air and water protections, serving fossil fuel interests at the expense of public health and household budgets. By propping up outdated, polluting fossil fuel plants, Trump is locking working-class families into a dirtier and more expensive energy future.
Trump’s Agenda is Economic Sabotage
From his first day back in office, Donald Trump has governed as if the fossil fuel CEOs who bankrolled his campaign are now calling the shots—and they just might be. The results are devastating: skyrocketing costs, canceled projects, and a less stable grid.
And there’s more to come. Trump has made clear he won’t stop at repealing clean energy tax credits—his administration is actively working to cancel grants, claw back funding, and drive clean energy developers out of business before they can build. All while utility bills rise and families get stuck with higher prices.
Simply put: Trump’s energy agenda is economic sabotage for working Americans.
For more information or to speak with an Evergreen Action policy expert, please contact Deputy Communications Director Seth Nelson at seth@evergreenaction.com.
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