Trump administration to lower fuel economy standards, which critics say will harm the environment

NEW YORK — The Trump administration plans to issue new fuel economy standards Monday that would ease regulatory requirements for automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and light trucks.

President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social Media account Saturday that the less stringent mileage requirements would “eliminate the waste of building cars in America” ​​and save “thousands of families on a new, beautiful, safe car” while boosting U.S. auto production.

Last December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration predicted that the new standards would set the industry fleet average for light-duty vehicles at about 34.5 miles per gallon for the 2031 model year, down from the 50.4 miles per gallon projected in 2031 under rules put in place by the Biden administration.

Fuel economy requirements define how far new vehicles must travel on a gallon of gasoline. This change would further accommodate Trump’s promise to revoke policies that encouraged or created incentives for electric vehicle production.

Since taking office, Trump has relaxed rules on automobile exhaust emissions, repealed fines for automakers that fail to meet federal mileage standards And canceled consumer credits of up to $7,500 for electric vehicle purchases.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on his X social media account on Saturday that the changes would be announced on Monday. The White House, Department of Transportation and NHTSA could not immediately be reached for comment on the details of the new standards.

General Motors, Stellantis and Ford Motor, maker of the best-selling F-150 pickup, also could not immediately be reached for comment. The administration and automakers said the new rules would increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline-powered vehicles they need and can afford.

The average new car in the United States sold for $50,089 in August, crossing the $50,000 mark for the first time since last December, according to Data from Kelley Blue Book. At the same time, Americans are spending more on gas while the war led by Washington with Iran disrupt the world fuel flow. The national average price for a gallon of gasoline was $4.47 Sunday, up from $4.09 a month ago, according to the AAA auto club.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to end what he falsely calls a “mandate” for electric vehicles, falsely referring to President Joe Biden’s goal that half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. No federal policy has required automakers to sell electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles accounted for 6.5% of new vehicle sales in February, compared with 7.4% for all of 2025, according to data from automotive research group Edmunds.

News of the revised standards immediately drew rebukes from environmentalists.

Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transportation Campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the final rule “ignores the feasibility of clean technologies and the millions of fuel-efficient cars already on the road.”

“Trump is imposing reasonable mile-per-gallon standards at the worst possible time for consumers, who are being hit with exorbitant prices at the pump,” Becker said in a statement. “Consumers will pay the price for these reckless rollbacks while Trump’s oil and auto giant cronies reap the short-term profits.”

Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, promised the environmental group would fight the rule and said loosening fuel standards would also “make driving more expensive.”

“Less fuel-efficient cars mean more gas burned, higher expenses at the pump and dirtier air in our communities,” Garcia wrote in a statement.

When the 2024 standards took effect, NHTSA estimated they would save 14 billion gallons of gasoline by 2050. The agency also said that while new fuel-efficient vehicles cost more up front, the gasoline savings over the life of the car or truck would more than offset that.

Without these standards, in 2035, cars could produce 22,111 tons more carbon dioxide per year than under Biden-era rules. This also translates to an additional 90 tons per year of deadly soot particles and an additional 4,870 tons per year of smog components such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted into the air in the coming years.

Mileage standards, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, have been implemented since the energy crisis of the 1970s, and over time automakers have gradually improved the average efficiency of their vehicles.