Trump EPA moves to undo Biden car and truck emission standards
- The President Donald Trump administration is reconsidering greenhouse gas emission standards put in place by the previous administration.
- The administration argues that the standards are too costly and limit consumer choice.
President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday continued to follow through on its promise to get rid of what he referred to as a "mandate" to force Americans to buy electric vehicles, with the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency announcing that rules on greenhouse gas emissions would be formally reconsidered.
“The American auto industry has been hamstrung by the crushing regulatory regime of the last administration. As we reconsider nearly $1 trillion of regulatory costs, we will abide by the rule of law to protect consumer choice and the environment,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in a news release Wednesday.
Zeldin's announcement to revisit the rules finalized a year ago by President Joe Biden's administration had been widely expected. In March 2024, the EPA under Biden formalized greenhouse gas emission standards so strict that, had they been fully implemented, they could have effectively required that two-thirds of all new cars and light-duty trucks sold by model year 2032 be electric vehicles (EVs). Otherwise, automakers would have been required to find other technologies to hit the strict targets or could have faced stiff fines.
Trump and Republicans had decried the proposed rules as an "EV mandate" that Americans didn't want even before then, when they were initially unveiled in 2023. Biden and Democrats argued that the rules were necessary to battle climate change, with transportation sources one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases that scientists say lead to more heat being trapped in the atmosphere.
As a practical matter, the rules weren't a mandate, however, and greenhouse gas standards have routinely been rolled back and strengthened by successive administrations, just as Trump rolled back standards put in place by former President Barack Obama during Trump's first term in office.
Environmental groups blasted the decision. Katherine Garcia, director of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All campaign, said, "Any attempt to roll back these commonsense clean vehicle standards is a devastating attack on clean air and climate action. ... Strong vehicle emission standards make our cars and trucks spew less pollution, save families money on fuel, and give consumers greater choice for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles."
Garcia also said Trump's promised tariffs on imports, including vehicles and automobile components from Canada, Mexico and elsewhere, "will increase the cost of vehicles by thousands," undermining his argument that by getting rid of tougher greenhouse gas emission standards, he was trying to save consumers money.
As the Free Press has reported, Trump's tariffs, especially those threatened against Canada and Mexico, pose a unique risk to American automakers, especially those based in Detroit, because of deeply integrated supply chains and manufacturing facilities across North America. While those tariffs have been paused at least until April, others, including 25% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum that went into effect Wednesday, are also expected to hike car prices.
The EPA announced a series of proposed regulatory rollbacks on Tuesday, with the agency calling it "the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history." Among the announcements were those intended to review and potentially scale back environmental rules on power plants and, the oil and gas industry, as well as on some wastewater and air quality standards.
“The result will be more toxic chemicals, more cancers, more asthma attacks, and more dangers for pregnant women and their children. Rather than helping our economy, it will create chaos," said Amanda Leland, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Some business groups generally praised the decision, however. Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, a trade organization representing the oil and gas industry, said, “Voters (by electing Trump) sent a clear message in support of affordable, reliable and secure American energy, and the Trump administration is answering the call."
John Bozzella, president and CEO Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group of automakers and suppliers doing business in the U.S., also said the decision to revisit the greenhouse gas emissions rules is "positive."
"A balanced approach to emissions in the U.S. is key to preserving vehicle choice, keeping the industry globally competitive and in a position to support the country’s economic and national security in the years ahead," Bozzella said. "As we’ve said for a long time, the existing (greenhouse gas) rules are extremely challenging to achieve. Even in the best of circumstances, we called them the ‘ragged edge of achievable.’ "
Zeldin's action comes in tandem with that taken in late January by new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who ordered the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to review the Biden administration's rules for mile-per-gallon standards for new vehicles in the coming years. Mile-per-gallon standards have historically been used as a way to lower greenhouse gas emissions and increase vehicle mileage and, until Biden's term, were generally set with the EPA and NHTSA working in concert under different parts of the federal statutes regarding emissions.
“We are already hard at work executing the President's vision to usher in a golden age of transportation by taking immediate action to remove government overreach and lower costs for hardworking Americans," Duffy said after signing the order, which was his first act after being sworn in. "The memorandum signed today specifically reduces the burdensome and overly restrictive fuel standards that have needlessly driven up the cost of a car in order to push a radical Green New Deal agenda."
Trump signed an executive order after being inaugurated for his second term ending what he called the "EV mandate," though that had no practical effect with the EPA and NHTSA rules still formally in effect until his administration rewrites and finalizes new rules for U.S. fleets of automobiles.
In making his announcement Wednesday, Zeldin claimed the existing greenhouse gas rules — which the auto industry helped write and were cheered by environmentalists — imposed more than $700 billion in regulatory and compliance costs on businesses and taxpayers and restricted "Americans’ ability to choose a safe and affordable car for their family," even though they some experts argue that EVs, while more expensive than cars with internal combustion engines, save on fuel costs.
Zeldin also said EPA will be reevaluating a Biden-era plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from medium- and heavy-duty trucks, which he said will lead to "significant costs that will make the products our trucks deliver, like food and other household goods, more expensive."
Trump has made several contradictory statements regarding EVs throughout the campaign and into his second term in office, claiming that they have limited range and any push to promote them would only help Chinese automakers, while at the same time saying they should be an option for people who want them. On Tuesday, he posed with a series of EVs made by Tesla and its owner, Trump adviser Elon Musk, saying he planned to buy one and claiming that Musk and his company have been treated unfairly by political opponents.
Tesla has been hit with protests and seen its stock value fall precipitously amid anger over Musk's efforts as head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to slash federal spending and cut the federal workforce.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.
(This story was updated with new information.)