The Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday it had reached a deal with the heavy-duty truck engine manufacturing industry never to strike a regulatory deal with California again over its agreement to abide by the state’s vehicle emission rules.
The FTC said it had dropped an antitrust probe into California’s Clean Truck Partnership, a voluntary agreement between truck engine manufacturers and California to follow the state’s sales targets for zero-emission trucks even if the rule did not survive court challenges.
The settlement undercuts California’s regulatory authority and steps up the Trump administration’s efforts to bolster fossil fuels.
“The Trump-Vance Administration has taken forceful action to restore competition to our nation’s trucking industry,” the FTC’s three Republican commissioners wrote in a joint statement. “As part of that approach, the Commission’s investigation of the anticompetitive nature of the CTP agreement has brought the matter to a swift and decisive conclusion in the form of firm commitments to eschew the CTP and prevent similar conduct in the future.”
