Trump announces roll back of Biden-era vehicle fuel efficiency rules: 'Expensive restrictions'
President Donald Trump took consistent jabs at Democrats as he announced from the Oval Office on Wednesday that his administration is reversing vehicle fuel efficiency standards that were put into place by former President Joe Biden.
"We're officially terminating Joe Biden's ridiculously burdensome, horrible, actually, CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards that impose expensive restrictions and all sorts of problems -- gave all sorts of problems to automakers,” Trump said. “And we're not only talking about here, we're talking about outside of our country.”
Flanked by Ford and Stellantis CEOs, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., and other members of Congress, Trump and Duffy both said this action would address affordability concerns across the country -- something the White House has been defensively messaging on.
Earlier on Wednesday, a White House official confirmed reports that the Trump administration says that the reset of the federal fuel efficiency standards is expected to save Americans up to $109 billion.
Trump also told reporters that his administration would revoke the Biden-era emission waivers for California. His comments come after the Senate had voted in May to overturn electric vehicle emission waivers in the state.
Ahead of the meeting on Wednesday, Ford CEO Jim Farley applauded Trump's move in a statement to ABC News.
"As America’s largest auto producer, we appreciate President Trump’s leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities. We can make real progress on carbon emissions and energy efficiency while still giving customers choice and affordability. This is a win for customers and common sense," Farley said.
"Stellantis appreciates the Trump Administration’s actions to re-align the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards with real world market conditions as part of its wider vision for a growing U.S. automotive industry. We look forward to working further with NHTSA on environmentally responsible policies that also allow us to offer our customers the freedom to choose the vehicles they want at prices they can afford," Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said in a statement.
"GM supports the goals of NHTSA’s proposed CAFE rule and its intention to better align fuel economy standards with market realities. We have long advocated for one national standard that upholds customer choice and provides the auto industry long-term stability. As we review the proposal, we remain committed to offering the best and broadest portfolio of electric and gas-powered vehicles on the market,” a GM spokesperson said in a statement shared by the White House.
In announcing new fuel economy standards for 2027 to 2031 vehicles last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the new standards "will save Americans more than $23 billion in fuel costs while reducing pollution." They said the increased fuel efficiency would save the average consumer $600 in gasoline costs during the lifetime of their vehicles.
In the same announcement, the NHTSA said, "These improved standards will save almost 70 billion gallons of gasoline through 2050, preventing more than 710 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050."
The 2024 rule from the Biden administration mandated a 2% increase in fuel efficiency each year for vehicles produced between 2027 through 2031 and a 20% per year increase, which would bring the average vehicle fuel economy up to about 50.4 miles per gallon.
The transportation sector is one of the most significant contributors of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, with cars and trucks accounting for a majority of those emissions, according to the EPA.
The Trump administration says the rollback of fuel economy standards is about reducing vehicle costs, but that's not an established fact.
A Consumer Reports analysis of vehicle purchase data for 2003 to 2021 model years vehicles found "no systemic, statistically significant increase in inflation-adjusted vehicle prices across either vehicle classes or vehicle nameplates.”
During that same period, Consumer Reports said average fuel economy improved by 30%. Because of the improved fuel standards, the Consumer Reports analysis found that consumers, on average, saved "$7,000 in per-vehicle lifetime fuel savings for model year 2021 vehicles compared with model year 2003.”
“In one stroke Trump is worsening three of our nation’s most vexing problems: the thirst for oil, high gas pump costs and global warming,” said Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign, in a statement to ABC News.
“The cure for pollution and high gas costs is strong fuel economy standards, not killing them as a favor to the president’s Big Oil, Big Auto and OPEC golf buddies. Trump’s action will feed America’s destructive use of oil, while hamstringing us in the green tech race against Chinese and other foreign carmakers. The auto industry will use this rule to drive itself back into a familiar ditch, failing to compete,” Becker added.
