President Trump approved new fuel-economy standards that scrap Biden’s aggressive mileage rules, a shift automakers welcome as gas prices climb and EV mandates lose ground.
President Trump said Saturday on Truth Social that he had just approved new Fuel Economy Standards for new cars and light trucks. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the administration would make the formal announcement Monday.
The change rolls back federal mileage requirements that had locked manufacturers into a steep climb toward electric vehicles. Under the Biden administration, automakers faced a 50.4 miles-per-gallon standard. A December proposal would have set the average at 34.5 mpg for model year 2031.
Trump has said the rollback will cut thousands of dollars from the price of new cars. Manufacturers gain more room to build the gas-powered pickups and SUVs that deliver stronger near-term profits and match what many buyers still want.
Breitbart reported Trump’s Truth Social message in full. He framed the decision as a direct end to the prior administration’s electric-vehicle mandate.
"BIG DAY FOR AMERICAN AUTO WORKERS AND CAR BUYERS! I have just approved new Fuel Economy Standards that TERMINATE Sleepy Joe Biden and Pete Boot-EDGE-EDGE’s ridiculous EV Mandate."
Congress had already stripped the fines automakers paid when they missed mileage targets, saving the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. Lawmakers also repealed tax credits of up to $7,500 for new electric-vehicle buyers. In February, the Environmental Protection Agency ended federal limits on greenhouse-gas pollution from cars.
Those steps left the fuel-economy standard as one of the last hard levers pushing the fleet toward battery power. Weaker Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules now let companies put more weight on larger trucks and SUVs that shoppers actually order.
The same pattern of reversing prior Democratic priorities has marked other Trump administration fights, including the renewed Supreme Court battle over criminal alien detention.
Last year Congress blocked California from imposing its own stricter car-emissions limits. The Golden State had used tougher pollution rules and electric-vehicle targets to pull the national market. That path is now narrower.
Gas prices supplied fresh context for the timing. AAA put the national average for regular at $4.48 on Saturday, up from $3.14 a year earlier. In California the same gallon hit $6.33, up from $4.64. The state’s isolated fuel market, special blend requirements, and reliance on imports keep prices elevated even when the rest of the country eases.
The Washington Examiner noted that Trump officials cast the prior rules as an expensive climate-driven push for electric vehicles and argued the rollback lowers the upfront cost of a new car.
Shoppers who still prefer gasoline engines no longer face a regulatory schedule built to make those engines scarce. That is the practical result of dropping the Biden-era target.
Voters watching enforcement and election rules have seen similar course corrections, as when the Supreme Court allowed federal database checks on voter rolls.
Parallel work at the EPA aims at the legal foundation itself. The Washington Free Beacon reported that Administrator Lee Zeldin’s agency is preparing to rescind the 2009 endangerment finding on greenhouse gases. That Obama-era finding underpinned electric-vehicle mandates and a wide set of climate rules on cars and power plants.
EPA estimates tied to the vehicle rules alone put the cost to Americans above $1 trillion. Zeldin called the broader deregulation effort the largest in U.S. history. Democratic senators, including Chuck Schumer, demanded the finding stay in place and labeled repeal a dereliction of duty. Environmental groups are already preparing lawsuits.
"Withdrawing the endangerment finding is fantastic news for American workers and consumers."
Myron Ebell’s assessment matches the administration’s stated priority: lower costs and more choice over forced electrification.
Border results have followed the same accountability logic, with more than 3 million illegal immigrants leaving the country under tougher enforcement.
National Review observed a familiar double standard. Coverage treated Biden’s use of fuel-economy rules to promote electric vehicles as ordinary climate policy. When Trump proposed rolling those standards back, the same outlets cast him as overstepping his authority and cast the move as an attack on the environment.
The underlying policy choice is straightforward. One approach used mileage targets and credits to shrink the market for gasoline vehicles. The other restores room for manufacturers to sell what customers will pay for without a federal thumb on the scale.
In an earlier term the Trump administration had already eased Obama-era fuel-economy rules, cutting the required annual increase from 5 percent to 1.5 percent for model years 2021 through 2026. Officials then argued newer vehicles would be more affordable and safer. Fox News reported Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao calling that package a win for consumers, passengers, and the environment, while EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said it struck the right balance among environmental, health, and economic goals. Democrats and green groups opposed that rollback too.
The current decision continues that preference for cost and choice over mandate-driven fleet change. Congress has already removed the penalty stick and the EV buyer credit. California lost its freestanding emissions lever. The EPA is moving on the endangerment finding that made the tightest rules possible. The fuel-economy number is the piece now falling into line.
Partisan reaction fits a larger shift inside the Democratic coalition, where a Quinnipiac poll found 59 percent of Democrats identifying with DSA positions.
The financial hit from the old fines is already gone. What remains is the production signal. A lower mileage average means companies can put capital into profitable trucks and SUVs instead of chasing compliance through heavy electric-vehicle mix requirements that still struggle with price, range, and charging access in large parts of the country.
Trump’s stated test is simple: does the rule cut the price of a new car by thousands of dollars? Manufacturers and buyers who never asked for a rapid forced transition get the clearer answer.
House action against socialist policy has drawn some cross-aisle votes as well, including when the chamber passed a resolution condemning socialism with eight Democrats joining.
Drivers still paying elevated pump prices, especially in California, will judge the policy by the stickers on the lot and the freedom to choose an engine that fits their budget and their roads. That is the measure this rollback restores.
Federal rules should not punish the vehicles Americans use to work and haul. This change puts the customer and the assembly line back in front of the mandate.