NEW YORK, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered to erase tax credits for electric vehicle (EV) purchases, federal grants for chargers, and subsidies and loans to help retool assembly lines and build battery factories, which could cause U.S. carmakers to fall behind if they scale back their EV programs while Asian and European automakers continue perfecting the technology, The New York Times on Tuesday cited analysts.

"Already, 50 percent of car sales in China are electric or plug-in hybrids, and Chinese automakers like BYD are selling more cars around the world, taking customers away from established car companies, including American manufacturers," noted the report.

"The impact of this will be significant," said Shay Natarajan, a partner at Mobility Impact Partners, a private equity firm that invests in sustainable transportation. If demand for electric vehicles flags, as it has in other countries like Germany that cut incentives, she noted, carmakers could be left with costly, underused EV and battery factories.

Representatives of the fossil-fuel industry celebrated the president's action, while environmentalists lamented what they said was a serious setback to efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce urban air pollution caused by cars, according to the report.

Katherine García, a transportation expert at the Sierra Club, said: "Rolling back vehicle emission safeguards harms our health, our wallets and our climate. We will fight him at every turn of the road." ■