Trump to visit Detroit, may ease fuel economy rules

DETROIT -- President Trump is planning to hold an event at a new center for self-driving cars in the Detroit suburbs Wednesday to talk about jobs — specifically automotive jobs — and he may announce a plan to roll back fuel-efficiency standards.

Trump administration officials confirmed the visit but did not provide details.

The Free Press learned separately that the president plans to hold the event at Willow Run, a former World War II-era bomber factory and auto plant that is today is home to the American Center for Mobility, a testing center for self-driving vehicles.

Administration officials said the president also will meet with auto executives, union officials and hold a rally with workers.

The president has invited a number of automaker executives, including those from Detroit's Big 3, to attend the event, according to two people familiar with the president's plans who indicated they were not authorized to publicly disclose them.

Both people also said they expect the president will talk about easing fuel economy and emissions standards set to take place between 2021 and 2025. But Trump, true to his maverick reputation, sometimes defies expectations.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Trump plans to visit both Nashville, Tenn., and metro Detroit. The visit will highlight "the need to eliminate burdensome regulation that needlessly hinders job growth," Spicer said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began reviewing fuel-economy standards last year as part of a planned "mid-term review."

The automotive industry has been lobbying hard for the standards, adopted by the Obama administration in 2011, to be relaxed because consumers are now showing a preference for bigger, thirstier -- and more profitable -- models instead of fuel-efficient smaller cars. Also, oil and gas prices have fallen to levels lower than was previously expected.

The standards will require steep spending by automakers in the coming years. In addition to the fuel economy standards, the automotive industry also has been lobbying for the relaxation of standards for greenhouse gas emissions.

Last week, several Democratic U.S. senators and environmental groups blasted plans said to be in the works to roll back tougher fuel-use standards for American vehicles, arguing that they will return automakers to pre-recession policies that led to the near-collapse of the domestic industry.

Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Tom Carper of Delaware and Jeff Merkley of Oregon said rolling back fuel economy standards would hurt the country and the auto industry.

Markey and the others also said that while a change to future standards might give American automakers leeway to sell more profitable, larger vehicles, that's one of the practices that led to trouble for domestic automakers in the 1990s and 2000s.

At the time, Detroit's Big 3 -- General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler --  devoted most of their resources to developing large pickups and SUVs and neglected small cars. When gas prices soared in 2008 demand for larger vehicles plummeted and the Detroit Three suffered because they did not have competitive small cars.

In 2011, automakers agreed to regulations that called for the industry to nearly double fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon, which the Obama administration said would save motorists $1.7 trillion in fuel costs over the life of the vehicles. But they would collectively cost the auto industry about $200 billion to comply over 13 years.

Automakers met stricter regulations through 2016 but have said that the standards scheduled to take place from 2021 to 2025 are much tougher.