WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump eliminated fuel standard regulations imposed by President Joe Biden with an executive order signed on Dec. 3 in the Oval Office.
“We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horribly actually, [fuel economy] standards that imposed expensive restrictions and all sorts of problems,” Trump said.
“Today my administration is taking historic action to lower costs for American consumers, protect American auto jobs, and make buying a car more affordable and safer.”
His directive reduced the number of miles a vehicle must travel on a gallon of gasoline, a move that will mitigate car price increases of about $1,000 and save Americans approximately $109 billion, according to administration officials.
The president rejected his predecessor’s actions and efforts by California and other states to outlaw gas-powered vehicles as detrimental to the economy.
“It put tremendous upward pressure on car prices,” Trump said, blaming Biden’s policies for an increase of more than 25 percent for new car prices.
Companies spent money attempting to reach objectives proposed by the Biden administration, including miles-per-gallon standards as high as 62 miles per gallon, which were ultimately unattainable, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during the event.
“These rules are going to allow auto makers to make vehicles Americans want to purchase,” he said. “This is jobs, this is freedom, and this is common sense.”
Representatives from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis joined the president for the signing ceremony.
“Today is a victory for common sense and affordability,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said during the ceremony. “This allows us to invest in affordable vehicles made in the U.S., which we will take the lead on, and will allow us to make vehicles more affordable.”
The president said domestic auto manufacturing has jumped by 10 percent this year.
“We’re bringing auto manufacturing back,” Trump said.
Upcoming rule changes will also allow for the manufacture of smaller vehicles, like those seen on roads in Europe and Asia, he said.
Differences of opinion in recent administrations—with Democrats preferring electric vehicles and pushing to increase fuel efficiency for gas-powered vehicles and Trump’s presidencies focusing on reducing costs and regulations—have resulted in a series of policy reversals.
Increases of 8 percent to 10 percent annually were proposed for some new vehicles.
The most recent order continues the trend of transforming federal policy.
“Today we’re taking one more step to kill the green new scam,” Trump said.
