WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration announced plans to roll back what it calls costly and unlawful Biden-era fuel economy rules — known as CAFE standards — saying the reset will deliver relief to Americans by saving them $109 billion over the next five years.
Environmental advocates say the rollback gives big oil an opportunity to pump more money from consumers.
A rule change under former President Joe Biden would have required automakers to add gas-saving technology to make new cars average 50.4 miles per gallon by 2031 — a target critics say amounted to an EV mandate.
“We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible, actually, CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions and all sorts of problems, gave all sorts of problems to automakers,” President Trump said Wednesday while announcing a reset of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
The administration plans to reduce the standards to 34.5 miles per gallon — levels that the White House and many Republicans say can actually be met with conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles.
“But what I do resent is the government making it an impossible level to reach and forcing you into another product that you shouldn’t be forced into,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., an owner of several auto dealerships, who was present in the Oval Office for the president’s announcement Wednesday. “Let the consumer decide what he or she wants to buy.”
However, environmental advocates say this reset is not just a reversal — it’s a major setback in the fight against climate change.
“Trump is taking a wrecking ball to the biggest single step any nation has ever taken to protect us at the gas pump from high prices, to cut our oil dependence, and to protect the atmosphere from global warming,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity.
Becker says the tougher CAFE standards would have put pressure on auto companies to produce vehicles that sip gas instead of guzzling it. He says it would have saved 64 billion gallons of gasoline and $35 billion in lifetime consumer savings.
“What Trump does, allows the automakers to make infinite numbers of gas guzzlers instead of having to counterbalance some of them with more efficient vehicles and electric vehicles,” Becker said. “That’s great for big oil. It’s great for big auto. It’s terrible for consumers and for the environment.”
Transportation officials say they intend to finalize the revised proposed rules for model years 2022 to 2031 passenger cars and light trucks by the end of the year.
