President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he approved new fuel economy standards designed to eliminate Biden-era vehicle regulations, arguing the policy shift will lower car prices and boost domestic manufacturing across states including Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he has signed off on new fuel economy rules aimed at dismantling what his administration characterizes as an electric vehicle mandate. The move comes as the White House pushes to reshape federal vehicle regulations and revive domestic auto production.
According to a message shared by the president on Truth Social, the older benchmarks drove up expenses for both car companies and buyers while steering producers in the direction of battery-powered cars. Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday afternoon: The Dumocrats cost our Great Auto Manufacturers $Billions, forced Americans into cars they never wanted, and wasted Billions on Chargers that were never built.
Trump wrote: “These new Standards will take the waste out of building cars in America. That means LOWER PRICES, saving families thousands on a new, beautiful, and safe car — Far better than the Environmental Monsters that we were building heretofore. Every Manufacturer, from General Motors to Ford to Stellantis, has called me wanting to build here, and now they can!” He also said his administration is investing $100 billion in American autos.
Industry Impact and Manufacturing Pledges
Trump asserted that executives from General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis have contacted his administration expressing a desire to expand domestic operations. The policy shift targets states with deep manufacturing roots. The president wrote: The Plants are coming back, and Jobs are returning, to Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, South Carolina, and all over our Country.
President Donald Trump
The president also wrote: Thank you to our Great Secretaries of Transportation and Commerce, Sean Duffy and Howard Lutnick.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X that a major victory for America's auto workers is COMING MONDAY,
though he did not specify whether he was referring to the fuel economy standards cited by Trump. A White House spokesperson referred Newsweek to Duffy’s post when asked for comment on Saturday. Ford CEO Jim Farley hailed Trump’s plan last year to lower fuel standards as a victory for affordability and common sense.
Farley told “Fox & Friends” in December: As the president said, we will be able to offer more affordability on our popular models, and we'll be able to launch new vehicles built in America that are more affordable because of this rule change.
Regulatory Rollbacks and California Mandates
The newly approved standards build on earlier moves by the administration to unwind strict environmental rules put in place under former President Joe Biden. The Environmental Protection Agency, operating under former leader Joe Biden, rolled out tougher fuel emission mandates back in 2024 that compelled car companies to produce a larger share of battery-powered vehicles in subsequent years. In June, Trump signed a trio of congressional resolutions ending California’s restrictive rules for diesel engines and mandates on elective vehicle sales, with Trump celebrating that his signature will kill the California mandates forever.
Trump said before signing the resolutions: “Under the previous administration, the federal government gave left-wing radicals in California dictatorial powers to control the future of the entire car industry all over the country, all over the world, actually. They approved Governor Gavin ‘Newscum’s’ ridiculous plan to impose a 100% ban on all new gas-powered cars within a very short period of time. Think of this, you can’t buy any other car except an electric powered car, and in California they have blackouts and brownouts. They don’t have enough electricity right now.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration previously signaled a shift away from Biden-era requirements. A December filing put forward by NHTSA estimated a corporate average fuel economy of roughly 34.5 miles per gallon heading into 2031, which contrasts with the roughly 50.4 mpg target set by the prior administration. Yet, it remained uncertain right away whether the guidelines cited by Trump on Saturday align directly with that draft or incorporate additional modifications. NHTSA has maintained that past fuel economy benchmarks placed an excessive reliance on anticipated electric vehicle uptake and regulatory credits during the target-setting process, a stance the organization asserts runs contrary to federal statutes. In June 2025, Duffy published a rule titled Resetting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program,
claiming that the Biden administration “illegally” factored electric vehicle adoption rates and compliance credits into its calculations when determining maximum feasible fuel economy under the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
Projected Tradeoffs in Fuel Use and Emissions
While the administration projects significant savings for consumers, federal traffic safety projections indicate the regulatory rollback will carry environmental and fuel consumption tradeoffs. Advocates of the rules enacted during the Biden administration contended that those directives would successfully cut down on petroleum usage and help rein in pollution originating from the transportation sector. Even though Trump and his political partners frequently characterized those mandates as forcing an electric vehicle transition, the actual regulations stopped short of compelling individual buyers to acquire such cars.
At the same time, Trump also ended Biden’s electric vehicle tax credits last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.