Trump’s Fuel-Economy Rollback Pits Cheaper Cars Against Higher Costs at the Pump
Trump’s Fuel-Economy Rollback Pits Cheaper Cars Against Higher Costs at the Pump
Fuel-economy standards have shaped the US car market since the Corporate Average Fuel Economy programme began in 1975, generally pushing manufacturers toward more efficient vehicles. Under President Joe Biden, that trajectory steepened: automakers were expected to bring fleet-average efficiency to about 50 miles per gallon by model year 2031, a policy designed in part to encourage electric-vehicle production and sales.
That direction has now been reversed. The Department of Transportation finalized standards requiring 34.9 miles per gallon by 2031, instead of the 50.4 mpg target under the Biden-era plan. The new benchmark is only modestly above the 30.1-mpg target set for model year 2024. The administration called the change “among the largest deregulatory actions under the second Trump Administration.”
Trump has cast the shift as an affordability measure and an industrial-policy win. In announcing his approval of the standards, he said they would “take the waste out of building cars in America,” delivering “LOWER PRICES” and saving families thousands on new vehicles. He also said manufacturers from General Motors to Ford and Stellantis wanted to build more in the US under the new rules.
That argument aligns with automakers’ interest in producing more profitable pickups and SUVs, vehicles that generally consume more fuel than smaller cars. The administration says the rule will reduce the average price of a new vehicle by $1,300 and save $138 billion over five years, though those estimates are disputed.
Critics say lower upfront prices obscure larger costs over a vehicle’s lifetime. Biden’s standards had been expected to save $23 billion in fuel costs, including more than $600 in gasoline for a typical owner. Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, said: “There is no reason to weaken standards that are technologically feasible and have a direct benefit for the quality of the air people breathe.”
The divide is stark: Trump’s team promises cheaper cars and more manufacturing flexibility; advocates warn that weaker standards will leave Americans buying more gasoline, breathing dirtier air and facing higher climate-related costs.
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