Donald Trump To Repeal Biden-Era Fuel Efficiency Standards: What This Means For Automakers

United States President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he will repeal Biden-era fuel efficiency standards. The move is aimed at relaxing fuel-efficiency requirements for millions of new cars and light trucks, marking Trump’s fresh efforts to ease pollution rules.

“We are officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible actually, Cafe standards that imposed expensive restrictions,” Trump said in an Oval Office announcement, flanked by top auto executives, including the CEOs of Ford and Stellantis. “It put tremendous upward pressure on car prices, combined with the insane electric vehicle mandate,” the US President added.

Trump’s latest announcement means that gasoline-powered vehicles will now face fewer emission curbs. According to a Guardian report, transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US and the move is likely to worsen climate change.

The Biden administration had set stricter fuel economy rules for cars and light trucks. Trump is planning to ease the existing rules and expects that the relaxed norms will allow “the automakers to make vehicles that Americans want to purchase.” The US President’s decision is part of his administration's broader push against federal support for cleaner vehicles.

“This is important for American jobs. The more cars we sell, the more jobs we have in this country,” Trump’s Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, said at the press conference.

The decision is the latest action to reverse Biden-era policies, including terminating consumer credits of up to $7,500 for electric vehicle purchases and repealing fines for automakers that don’t meet federal mileage standards.

These decisions will likely make cars more affordable in the US by lowering costs for automakers. This means that with the new rules, automakers could spend less on electric or hybrid vehicle development. Gasoline-powered vehicles may remain cheaper to produce and buy. 

The Biden administration rules required automakers to increase the average fuel efficiency of new vehicles to about 50 miles per gallon by 2031. 

The plan was aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change by encouraging the shift towards electric and cleaner vehicles. These standards were built on the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules, first created in 1975 and gradually tightened over the years. 

The standards proposed by Trump would now require cars to get about 34 miles to the gallon by 2031, according to the Guardian report.