The Trump administration is planning to release new fuel efficiency mandates Monday that would weaken stringent rules implemented under President Biden.
President Trump pitched the changes, which he announced in December, as a way to boost the domestic auto industry and lower consumer costs. He made the original announcement standing alongside several auto executives.
“These new Standards will take the waste out of building cars in America,” Trump said in a social media post Saturday. “That means LOWER PRICES, saving families thousands on a new, beautiful, and safe car — Far better than the Environmental Monsters that we were building heretofore.”
Trump has long criticized the Biden-era rules, which were part of a set of policies to spur production and purchases of electric vehicles. EV production and sales have plummeted as a consequence of Trump administration policies, and the new changes also come as elevated fuel prices are sending ripples through the broader U.S. economy.
Trump, whose party is struggling in the polls ahead of the November midterm elections, has been under pressure to do more to address concerns about rising prices for consumer goods, particularly as oil prices have remained persistently high since the start of the Iran war.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy responded to the president’s comments Saturday with his own social media post, saying that a “major victory for America’s auto workers is COMING MONDAY.” A U.S. official confirmed that new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards will be released Monday.
If Monday’s final rule mirrors the original proposal from last year, it would lower the fuel-economy requirement for 2031 model-year vehicles to 34.5 miles per gallon from about 50 mpg previously.
The lowered standards would represent a major win for the auto and oil industries that complained the Biden-era requirements push the bounds of available technology and effectively discourage the sale of traditional gasoline-powered vehicles in favor of electric models.
However, the changes also come as diesel prices set a record high and gasoline prices reached their highest level ever for September, extending a rally driven by the Iran war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump administration officials are studying a range of options aimed at curbing soaring fuel prices, fueled in part by political impetus as rising cost of living is undermining Republicans’ odds of retaining control of Congress after the November midterm elections. Banning diesel exports has been floated as an option, though energy experts say such a step would only offer short-term relief and eventually drive costs even higher.
“With Americans struggling to afford gasoline that is more than $4 a gallon, the Trump administration is going to force them to pay more at the pump,” said Atid Kimelman, an attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit group. “Oil companies will get a windfall from gutting the fuel economy standards, but the rest of us are going to be handing over more of our hard-earned paychecks to fill up the tank.”
Mijares Torres writes for Bloomberg. Bloomberg writer Ari Natter contributed to this report.
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