The Trump administration on Friday took a step to undermine Biden-era rules that tightened fuel efficiency requirements for cars and trucks.
The Transportation Department published an interpretive rule that says that the Biden administration improperly considered electric vehicles as a way to make vehicle fleets more efficient
While this determination does not formally end the Biden-era rule, the Trump administration indicated that while the rulemaking process plays out it may not enforce the Biden-era standards.
“Pending the rulemaking process for the establishment of replacement standards, [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] will exercise its enforcement authority with regard to all existing… standards in accordance with the interpretation set forth in this rule,” it stated.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in a written statement, accused the previous administration of trying to push an electric vehicle “mandate.”
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are making vehicles more affordable and easier to manufacture in the United States,” Duffy said. “The previous administration illegally used [Corporate Average Fuel Economy] standards as an electric vehicle mandate.”
The Biden administration issued a rule requiring cars to be about 2 percent more fuel efficient each year while heavy duty pickup trucks and vans would have to be 10 percent more efficient each year from 2030 to 2032 and 8 percent more efficient in the years after.
President Trump has long talked about getting rid of the Biden administration’s efforts to promote electric vehicles. He has argued that these efforts harm consumers’ freedom to choose what kinds of cars they want to drive and could lead to strife for autoworkers.
Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that shifting toward more electric vehicles would mitigate air pollution and climate change – and put the U.S. at the forefront of an emerging market.
While Trump has long lamented the previous administration’s electric vehicle policy, the release of the administration’s determination comes just one day after an explosive feud emerged between the president and Tesla mogul Elon Musk.
The Transportation Department rules came alongside a separate, more stringent regulation for vehicle tailpipe emissions from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that in practice has a greater effect on the vehicle market’s fuel efficiency and is not impacted by the Trump administration’s latest maneuver.
However, the department’s fuel economy rules would act as a backstop if the EPA rule was to be overturned. Republicans are attempting to eliminate that rule through their “big, beautiful bill.”
