Trump’s crackdown on EVs hits home in the Battery Belt

FILE PHOTO: A model of the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup is parked in front of the Ford Motor Company World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S., April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

STANTON, Tenn (Reuters) -Stanton, Tennessee - population 450 - welcomed a massive new neighbor a few years ago: a Ford electric-truck and joint venture battery plant slated to employ 6,000 workers.

Ford’s 2022 groundbreaking triggered an influx of construction activity into the former cotton-and-soybean farmlands outside of Memphis. Hard-hatted workers filled local diners. Developers scrambled to build homes and fire stations.