Work

Competing energy futures: Industrial policy, energy markets, and the global implications of Biden's IRA and Trump's 2025 fossil-fuel strategy

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This article offers a comparative examination of U.S. industrial and energy policy under the Biden administration and the subsequent reorientation introduced by the Trump administration’s 2025 omnibus budget. Under President Biden, three major legislative pillars—the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act—collectively marked one of the most significant federal commitments in decades to clean-energy deployment, climate-aligned industrial strategy, and the rebuilding of domestic productive capacity. Together, these measures sought to embed decarbonization within a broader framework of place-based industrial renewal, technological leadership in emerging sectors, and greater resilience across critical supply chains.The policy direction adopted in the Trump administration’s 2025 budget represents a distinct shift in priorities and underlying assumptions. While not rejecting state intervention outright, the new framework phases out many climate-related incentives, scales back IRA-era subsidies, and reorients federal support toward fossil-fuel extraction, traditional manufacturing, and regulatory flexibility. It places a stronger emphasis on energy abundance, cost competitiveness in established sectors, and the use of tariffs and trade measures as instruments of industrial protection. This approach reflects a different interpretation of national competitiveness, one that prioritizes short-term affordability, legacy industries, and security-oriented conceptions of energy independence.By juxtaposing these two paradigms, the article highlights how divergent federal strategies can reshape investment incentives, influence the technological trajectory of the energy system within the global political economy.

Source: Energy Policy

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115393

Authors: Stuart P.M. Mackintosh, Thierry Warin

Institutions: Newcastle University, HEC Montréal

Language: English

Topic: Global Energy Security and Policy

Subfield: General Energy

Field: Energy

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Affordable and clean energy, Climate action, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,940