Trump is at war with the US Transportation system

 

President Trump gets upset about many things. One of these things is transportation. He doesn’t seem to like it. Here is some evidence of that.

The Border Road, which follows the border of Canada and the United States near the Sweetwater crossing, has been in use for dozens of years. Now suddenly the US decides it needs to close this road because of unspecified illegal entry into the US. [1]

Another border problem that Trump sees is the newly built $3.8 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge, connecting Detroit, Michigan with Windsor, Ontario. Trump is seeking to prevent its opening, perhaps because his friend owns a current bridge that will then have competition.

California’s high-speed rail program would be the only high-speed rail in the US. The Trump administration has canceled several grants to the project, severely hindering its construction. The goal seems to be to kill the entire project.

The Trump Administration halted funding for a new subway system in New York. The reason? The project was hiring too many minorities and women.

Electric vehicle sales were doing fine, with the help of federal price breaks and support for building charging stations. The Trump administration has canceled tax breaks and charging station construction programs. Now, with the start of the Iran war, the huge rise in the price of fossil fuels (about a 75% increase since the beginning of the year) makes these decisions look harmful to the economy.

Tariffs, which were supposed to make life better for Americans, have raised the price of new cars 10%, according to Kelley Blue Book.

With truckers under severe stress at this time, the Trump administration is working to lower the number of truck drivers available to the economy. They are attempting to prevent immigrants with legal status from obtaining a CDL license. The DOT itself estimates that this will mean 200,000 fewer truck drivers in the US.

During the recent federal shutdown, TSA agents at the airports went unpaid for over a month. This problem that caused massive delays at airports might be more the responsibility of the Republican legislatures, but Trump has great sway over these congress people.

Why is Trump attempting to harm the US transportation system? I haven’t a clue. Some of it is just his strange ideas about the supposed superiority of fossil fuels. Some of it is his disdain for non-Americans. The rest? Who knows. But we’re the ones who will suffer for his counter-productive efforts in transportation.

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