At Detroit auto show, spotlight dims for EVs

DETROIT (AP) — At the North American International Auto Show, tires squeal as gearheads put shiny new vehicles through their paces on a pair of indoor tracks that sprawl across the event space. One of those tracks used to be set aside exclusively for electric vehicles as U.S. automakers sought to quickly build out the cars of the future.

But no longer. This year, both strips are open to hybrids and gas-powered vehicles as Detroit continues a pivot away from EVs since President Donald Trump returned to the White House with a pro-fossil fuels agenda.

“The show will always reflect what’s happening in the industry at the consumer level,” said Todd Szott, chairman of this year’s event and an auto dealer. “Obviously things have changed in the EV landscape.”

Some industry players say they're emphasizing “consumer choice” in the cars they're showing at Detroit's premier auto event. But some experts expressed concern about the EV pullback's long-term effect on American automakers as the rest of the globe — especially China — electrifies.

“What we worry about is how competitive will we be on the global stage as the market continues to advance around us,” Michael Robinet, vice president of forecast strategy at auto market intelligence firm S&P Global Mobility, said during a panel Wednesday on industry trends.

Including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, U.S. sales of electrified cars grew just 1% last year, according to data released by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence this week. Compare that to China, which saw 17% growth in plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles last year, and Europe, which saw a 33% increase. (U.S. pure-EV market share was just under 8% in 2025, with 1.23 million EVs sold — a slight decline from 2024.)

None of that seemed to alarm President Donald Trump earlier this week when he toured the Ford River Rouge Complex, which churns out pickup trucks and more in suburban Dearborn. Trump used his time in Detroit to boast of policy changes on EVs and tariffs that he says have boosted U.S. automakers.

“Among my first acts in office was to end the radical left war on oil and gas and stop the crusade to kill American energy and, frankly, to open up cars so that you don’t have to have an electric car,” Trump said in remarks to an economic club before the plant tour.

Trump revoked a Biden-era target for half of new vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electric, and has tried to block money obligated to EV charging across the nation’s highways. Under Trump, Congress cut tax incentives that saved buyers up to $7,500 on an EV purchase. The administration has also weakened fuel economy standards — going so far as eliminating penalties for the automakers who do not meet them — and gas mileage rules.

“I love electric cars. I think they’re great,” Trump added. “But I’ve been saying it for four years. They wanted everybody to have an electric car in a very short period of time.”

Those changes have cut into the U.S. industry in 2025 and cost automakers billions of dollars in investment.

Ford Motor Co. announced last month $19.5 billion in charges from electrification efforts and ending production of the all-electric version of the F-150 Lightning truck. Detroit rival General Motors also recently announced $6 billion in EV-related charges, among other losses, and has also rolled back some of its EV commitments. Even once- market leader Tesla had a tough 2025.

“I still push for it because, I mean, it is the future of the company,” said Shawn Strain, marketing manager at Ford. “We still are just completely committed to EVs. And it may not be as overt as we once were.”

But industry experts at and outside of the show say it's a tough time. The competitive auto landscape has been radically reshaped, they say, and China dominates what most see as the future of the industry.

“We have to look at what we’re up against. In a word — China,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a speech at the show Thursday. "China wants to dominate every part of auto manufacturing. They’re making major headway.

"They’ve captured major market share almost everywhere except the U.S. and Canada," she added. “We have to meet these challenges."

Will Roberts, automotive research lead at Benchmark Minerals that released the 2025 data, warned that U.S. policy has made all the difference.

American automakers have responded to those changes, he said, but it would be good strategy if they made sure they were “keeping things ticking along in the background with a really compelling EV offering.”

Otherwise, the U.S. sector runs the risk of falling behind, Pete Buttigieg, former transportation secretary under former President Joe Biden, agreed.

In another panel at the show, Buttegieg said Trump can't stop electric vehicles from becoming the leading automotive technology.

“But he can stop America from being the leader in that technology,” Buttigieg said. "Industry should point a different direction.”

Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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Visitors talk in front of the Ford floor display at the Detroit Auto Show, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

A guest is driven in a Ford Bronco on a test drive course by a Ford employee at the Detroit Auto Show, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

President Donald Trump listens during a tour of the Ford River Rogue complex, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Guests and members of the media walk the floor at the Detroit Auto Show, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

A worker dusts on a 2026 Cadillac Optiq Premium Sport vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.

Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.

“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.

But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)