Let’s take the pulse of where things stand 72 hours after Biden White House officials unveiled their interpretation of complex electric vehicle subsidies in the climate law.

Why it matters: The rules determine which models qualify for up to $7,500 consumer tax credits. That’s enough to sway buying decisions and the pace of EV adoption, Ben writes.

🏃🏽‍♀️ Catch up fast: The law set escalating requirements for battery components sourced from North America, and minerals sourced (or processed) in the U.S., or from free-trade partners.

👀 What we’re watching …

The new trade landscape. Look for deals with Europe that fit companies there under the mineral rules following last week’s pact with Japan.

  • “[A] mosaic of such agreements could form the basis of a Western ‘critical minerals club,'” research firm ClearView Energy Partners said in a note.

The new business landscape. The rules should steer business to companies that help automakers track complex mineral supply chains.

  • “[W]e stand ready to help industry implement [the guidance] as they bring more volumes of electric vehicles to their customers,” Douglas Johnson-Poensgen, CEO of Circulor, in a statement to reporters.

The political fallout. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is furious, and some other key Democrats are uneasy with new trade deals that freeze out Congress.

  • ClearView doesn’t see Democratic support for nixing EV portions of the climate law, but add that frustration with the White House “putting decarbonization ahead of deglobalization could spur support for a GOP-led Congressional Review Act bid to overturn President Joe Biden’s two-year suspension of new duties on solar products tariffs.”

Flexibility under the rules. Here’s another example of our point Friday that Treasury is favoring EV deployment over a strict reading of industrial policy provisions in the law.

  • TD Cowen points out powders of cathode and active anode materials stayed in the “critical minerals” bucket, instead of being defined as battery components.
  • “This reduces the burden on U.S.-based battery manufacturing and places the requirement in the more generous (geographically speaking) critical mineral space,” TD’s John Miller said in a note.

🗓️ What’s next: In mid-April Treasury will publish a list of vehicles that qualify for some or all of the credits.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry group, predicts that “few” of the EVs currently for sale in the U.S. are eligible.