Move marks president’s latest effort to dismantle pollution regulations and support for cleaner-running vehicles
Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he is repealing the Biden-era federal fuel economy standards, significantly weakening fuel efficiency requirements for tens of millions of new gasoline-powered cars and light trucks.
It marks the US president’s latest effort to dismantle pollution regulations and federal support for cleaner-running vehicles and renewable energy. Burning gasoline is a significant contributor to global heating and transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
“We are officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible actually, Cafe standards that imposed expensive restrictions,” Trump said in an Oval Office announcement, flanked by top auto executives including the CEOs of Ford and Stellantis. “It put tremendous upward pressure on car prices, combined with the insane electric vehicle mandate.”
Depends. I don’t think we are exporting a whole lot of SUVs and pickups…especially big body-on-frame SUVs.
CAFE standards already killed the small/midsize car market. Automakers have all their chips in the SUV/CUV segment, because they are in the same category as giant trucks, and thus they improve the average fuel economy.
That, combined with the fact that Trump doesn’t do anything for the heck of it. Somebody is gaining (or at least planning to gain) from this (besides him)…makes me think that this will have significant negative impacts for the environment.
I’m not sure there are many body on frame SUVs left.
And the “same category as trucks” has more to do with safety standards. Fuel economy has to do with wheelbase; the way the math works out, it’s easier to build a less fuel efficient massive vehicle than a more fuel efficient small one.