Key facts
- The Trump administration is slashing clean car rules for model years 2022 through 2031.
- The new rule relaxes requirements on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and light trucks.
- Transportation accounts for about 28% of total US greenhouse gas emissions.
- The Trump administration claims the new rules will reduce the average cost of new vehicles by $1,300.
- Environmental groups condemn the rule change, stating it will make driving more expensive and increase fuel consumption.
- The Biden administration had aimed to increase required fuel efficiency for cars by 8% annually for model years 2024 and 2025.
The Trump administration on Monday announced it was slashing clean car rules, a move that relaxes requirements for automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and light trucks for model years 2022 through 2031. The Department of Transportation stated the new rule reverses a push by the Biden administration to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.
Transportation is the largest source of climate emissions in the United States, accounting for about 28% of total US greenhouse gas emissions, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Trump administration's move follows its earlier rollback of the government’s ability to impose requirements to track, report and limit climate-heating pollution from cars and trucks.
Donald Trump stated on Truth Social that the less stringent mileage requirements would “take the waste out of building cars in America” and save families “thousands on a new, beautiful and safe car”, while boosting auto production in the US. He has repeatedly mischaracterized Joe Biden’s target for EV sales as a mandate.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy hailed the initiative, called Freedom Means Affordable Cars, stating it would reduce the average cost of new vehicles by $1,300 and save consumers $138 billion over the next five years. He added that the rule ended an "illegal mandate" forcing automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles.
Environmental groups condemned the new rules. Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s safe climate transport campaign, said the rule ignores the feasibility of clean technology and that consumers will pay more for fuel due to the rollbacks. Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean transportation for all campaign, vowed the group would fight the rule, stating the loosening of fuel standards would make driving more expensive.
The Biden administration had increased required fuel efficiency for cars by 8% annually for model years 2024 and 2025, with further increases planned through 2031. The Trump administration's proposal, made in December, would have retroactively revised down the 2022 model year fuel economy standard and then raised it minimally annually through 2031. The department estimated its proposal would cut average new vehicle costs by $930, but increase fuel consumption by about 100 billion gallons through 2050, fuel spending by $185 billion, and carbon dioxide emissions by about 5%.