Donald Trump Unveils Plan for Radical Relaxation of Fuel Economy Standards in the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to drastically revise fuel efficiency standards implemented by his predecessor to lower the prices of new cars for American consumers.
What is Known
The regulations pertain to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements for passenger cars and light trucks, which were tightened during the administration of former President Joe Biden. In June 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) set new goals: automakers were required to reduce the average fuel consumption across their passenger car model line by 2% annually between the 2027 and 2031 model years, and for light trucks by 2% annually between the 2029 and 2031 model years.
According to these rules, the agency planned to increase the average vehicle fuel consumption to approximately 50.4 miles per gallon (4.7 l/100 km) by the 2031 model year. Trump called this policy "absurdly burdensome" and stated that it "imposed costly restrictions and created all sorts of problems for automakers." The new proposal will sharply reduce these requirements to about 34.5 miles per gallon (6.8 l/100 km) by the 2031 model year and will also reclassify crossovers and small SUVs from the light truck category to passenger cars.
In a fact sheet published by the White House on its website, the administration claims that without these measures, the strict fuel economy standards of the previous administration "would have raised the average cost of a new car by nearly $1000." They also claim that the proposal "will save American families a total of $109 billion over the next five years" and "save over 1500 lives and prevent nearly a quarter of a million serious injuries by 2050."
The proposed CAFE rules are part of Trump's broader agenda to roll back several regulations he previously called the "electric vehicle mandate." In July, lawmakers in Congress actively pushed for the repeal of fines for automakers failing to meet CAFE standards. Additionally, through a tax and budget bill passed earlier this year, known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," they repealed the $7500 federal tax credits for electric vehicle purchases.
Source: Autoblog