Mercedes-Benz’s CEO says the two electric SUVs produced in Alabama aren’t eligible for America’s updated electric vehicle tax credit rules.

According to Inside EVs, citing an Automotive News report, Ola Källenius said more protectionist practices will negatively impact Mercedes and companies like it.

New legislation as part of the American Inflation Reduction Act means that Mercedes-Benz’s two electric SUVs, the EQE and EQS, are too expensive to qualify for the $7,500 EV tax credit.

However, the EQB, made in Europe, would qualify.

The EQS SUV is currently on sale in the US, with prices starting at $104,400, while the EQE starting price is in the mid-$80Ks. The EQB base prices start in the mid-$50Ks.

“If political leaders make that a priority and are also willing to spend government money on that, that can be very helpful,” Källenius said. “If there are protectionistic side effects, that is unwelcome. To peel back and go into perhaps a more protectionistic direction would stifle that economic growth and would not be good for export-oriented economies and companies like ourselves.”

Mercedes’ Vance plant in Tuscaloosa County last year began electric SUV production after five years of activity and more than $1 billion pumped into the operation, which included adding an electric battery factory in Bibb County and 1,000 more employees.

Källenius spent five years in positions at the Vance factory in the 90s, and then returned in 2009 to serve as president and CEO for a year at Mercedes-Benz US International.