Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Monday accused the President Donald Trump administration of deliberately causing the slowdown in EV development through its policies.

In a post on X, Schiff criticized the Trump administration's policies against electric mobility and emissions norms. "One year after gutting California's ability to set its own clean air standards," Schiff said, the Trump administration was "hellbent" on "killing EV's and allowing more tailpipe emissions."

"Trump's EPA and the willingness of Senate Republicans to bend the rules to deliver for the fossil fuel industry come at a terrible cost to public health," the California senator said in his post.

Schiff also posted a link for a Reuters report dated June 12, which said that GOP leaders in Congress were sending the California tailpipe emissions norms for potential repeal. Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that the Golden State's emissions standards that were approved under previous governments were not reviewed by lawmakers under the Congressional Review Act, the report said.

Notably, EV sales in the U.S. reached a record high in May, with preliminary numbers showing 85,000 units sold, according to data by Cox Automotive.

In March, the Trump administration sued the state of California, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), over the latter's emissions goals. Trump's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also accused California of imposing an "illegal EV mandate" on its residents.

Newsom had earlier outlined that California was rolling out a $200 million EV incentive program that targeted first-time EV buyers as a point-of-sale rebate. The program also required automakers participating to match the incentive amount offered to customers. California also surpassed 2.5 million EV sales since Newsom took office in 2019 and highlighted a 300% surge in EV adoption in the state since 2019.