The US Transportation Department on Monday will finalize sharply lower vehicle fuel economy standards through 2031, reversing a push by the Biden administration to force automakers to build more electric vehicles, officials said on Saturday.
President Donald Trump said he had approved new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, which he said will lower the price of new vehicles. “A major victory for America’s auto workers is coming Monday,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
The new standards would cut the cost of new vehicles but increase fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions for decades, according to the department’s own estimates.
Trump’s push comes as American drivers are grappling with sharply higher fuel prices since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran at the end of February.
Under Democratic President Joe Biden, the government sought to push automakers to build more electric vehicles to meet rising fuel-efficiency standards. Biden increased required fuel efficiency for cars by 8% annually for model years 2024 and 2025, 10% for 2026 and 2% annually from 2027 to 2031.
The Trump administration in December proposed retroactively revising down the 2022 model year fuel economy standard and then raising it between 0.25% and 0.5% annually through 2031.
