Shift Key with Robinson Meyer5 Helmi 2025

The U.S. Auto Industry Wasn’t Built for Tariffs

Over the past 30 years, the U.S. automaking industry has transformed how it builds cars and trucks, constructing a continent-sized network of factories, machine shops, and warehouses that some call “Factory North America.” President Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports will disrupt and transform those supply chains. What will that mean for the automaking industry and the transition to EVs?

Ellen Hughes-Cromwick is the former chief economist at Ford Motor Company, where she worked from 1996 to 2014, as well as the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She is now a senior visiting fellow at Third Way and a senior advisor at MacroPolicy Perspective LLC.

On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob and Jesse chat with Ellen about how automakers build cars today, why this system isn’t built for trade barriers, and whether Trump’s tariffs could counterintuitively help electric vehicles. Shift Key is hosted by Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University, and Robinson Meyer, Heatmap’s executive editor.

Mentioned:

Trump’s Tariffs are a Warning

Rob’s downshift; Jesse’s up-ish-shift.

This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by …

Download Heatmap Labs and Hydrostor’s free report to discover the crucial role of long duration energy storage in ensuring a reliable, clean future and stable grid. Learn more about Hydrostor here.

Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(155)

The Tesla Alum Trying to Turn GM Into an American Battery Juggernaut

There are two big trends in the American battery sector at the moment. The first is that the electric vehicle market is deteriorating. GM, for instance, sold just 25,000 EVs in the third quarter of th...

7 Loka 50min

Governor Mikie Sherrill on Electricity Prices, Nuclear Power, and Building in New Jersey

Governor Mikie Sherrill is a former Navy pilot, federal prosecutor, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She was elected New Jersey's governor in November 2025 in a campaign dominated by...

2 Loka 21min

Al Gore on AI, ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ and the Biggest Surprises of the Past 20 Years

Former Vice President Al Gore needs no introduction. He is, in a way, the original climate influencer. His film An Inconvenient Truth gave rise to a new wave of climate activism in the 2000s. It was o...

30 Syys 29min

Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Trump’s Pro-Nuclear, Pro-Fossil Fuel Agenda

Since taking office last year, the Trump administration has blocked renewable energy development and attacked climate change policy, prioritized fossil fuels and encouraged nuclear energy, and started...

25 Syys 30min

What Does The Nuclear Company Do?

In the past few years, something surprising has happened in American energy policy: States and utilities have started trying to build new nuclear plants.A new kind of company — the nuclear developer —...

23 Syys 53min

Starting a Giant Online Data Platform Is the Easy Part

America has some of the world’s best data about its own internal energy, industrial economy, and carbon emissions. That’s thanks to a federal agency called the U.S. Energy Information Administration, ...

16 Syys 35min

Shift Key Classic: What Is a Watt?

As we catch up from summer vacation, we’re bringing you a favorite from the Shift Key archive. We’ll be back in your feed with more fresh episodes starting next week.What is the difference between ene...

9 Syys 47min

How to Understand America’s Gigantic Natural Gas Buildout

The United States is staring down a natural gas buildout of gigantic proportions.Amazon wants to build what would be the country’s largest power plant in Texas — and run it entirely on natural gas. No...

2 Syys 50min