President Donald Trump plans to announce Wednesday that his team is rolling back Biden-era auto standards aimed at boosting fuel economy and cutting emissions.
Trump plans to make the announcement from the White House at an event featuring auto executives, a White House official confirmed Wednesday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previewed the event on social media featuring a news story calling the move a “reset” of fuel standards that will save money for consumers.
The proposal is one piece of the Trump administration’s broader agenda to obliterate the Biden administration’s climate policies, including regulations and incentives to spur consumers and manufacturers toward electric vehicles.
“I terminated the insane electrical electric-vehicle mandate,” Trump said Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
The administration is overhauling fuel economy standards finalized by the Biden administration in June 2024. The Biden team tightened the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard from 46.7 mpg in model year 2026 to 50.4 mpg in model year 2031.
The Trump team has criticized Biden policies they say aimed to force the swift electrification of the country’s auto fleets. As one of his first moves in office, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered his agency to immediately start work to reconsider existing fuel economy standards.
“Artificially high fuel economy standards designed to meet non-statutory policy goals … impose large costs that render many new vehicles unaffordable for the average American family and small business,” Duffy told his team in a January memo titled, “Fixing the CAFE Program.”
The Transportation Department did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday, and the White House did not release specifics about its upcoming proposal ahead of the planned announcement.
Environmentalists slammed the administration’s planned overhaul ahead of Wednesday’s announcement.
“The Trump administration is continuing their attacks on clean energy and families’ budgets by rolling back standards that save each family hundreds of dollars each year at the pump and make our environment healthier for our communities and future generations,” said Darien Davis, government affairs advocate on climate change and clean energy at the League of Conservation Voters.
Major automakers are expected to appear with Trump at the White House on Wednesday, Fox News Digital reported in the story circulated by Leavitt on social media. The White House shared statements from representatives of Ford, Stellantis and GM praising the administration’s move to revise the standards.
“As America’s largest auto producer, we appreciate President Trump’s leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “We can make real progress on carbon emissions and energy efficiency while still giving customers choice and affordability.”
Reporters Timothy Cama, Sean Reilly and Mike Lee contributed.
