President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he has approved a new set of federal fuel‑economy standards, marking a significant rollback of the vehicle‑efficiency rules put in place during the Biden administration.
The administration’s proposal, released in December, called for a sweeping reset of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program for passenger cars and light trucks through model year 2031. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the revised standards would bring the average fuel‑economy of the U.S. vehicle fleet to about 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031, compared with an estimated 50.4 mpg under the Biden‑era targets.
“BIG DAY FOR AMERICAN AUTO WORKERS AND CAR BUYERS! I have just approved new Fuel Economy Standards that TERMINATE Sleepy Joe Biden and Pete Boot‑EDGE‑EDGE's ridiculous EV Mandate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In the same post, Trump claimed the new standards would save Americans $109 billion over five years and lower the average price of a new vehicle by nearly $1,000 compared with what consumers would pay under the previous rules. Critics have questioned those projections, arguing that weaker fuel‑economy requirements could increase drivers’ gasoline costs.
Legislative actions taken under Trump’s second term have also altered the regulatory landscape: a law signed in July 2025 eliminated civil penalties for CAFE violations and blocked California’s plan to phase out sales of new gasoline‑only vehicles by 2035. The administration has described the Biden policies as an “effective EV mandate” that limited consumer choice.
Major U.S. automakers have announced billions of dollars in new domestic manufacturing investments. General Motors, Ford and Stellantis each disclosed multi‑billion‑dollar plans to expand production in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and South Carolina. Trump cited the combined investment of “over $100 billion” as evidence of a revitalized auto sector and thanked Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for their work on the standards.
<small>Source: Yahoo News — read the original story there.</small>
