On December 3, 2025, President Donald Trump gathered top auto executives in the Oval Office to announce a sweeping rollback of automotive fuel efficiency standards, marking a dramatic shift away from the ambitious climate and clean vehicle policies of the previous administration. The new proposal from the Department of Transportation would require automakers to produce cars and light trucks averaging just 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031, a significant drop from the Biden-era target of 50.4 mpg for the same model year.
Standing behind Trump were Ford CEO Jim Farley, Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa, and General Motors plant manager John Urbanic—all of whom publicly praised the move. Trump declared, “People want the gasoline car,” and cast the Obama- and Biden-era fuel efficiency rules as “ridiculously burdensome,” arguing that they threatened American jobs and consumer choice. He added, “Today we’re taking one more step to kill the green new scam. The greatest scam in American history, the green new scam, it’s a quest to end the gasoline-powered car, this is what they wanted to do even though we have more gasoline than any other country by far and people want the gasoline car.” According to WHYY News, Trump insisted that these changes would make vehicles more affordable, estimating that slashing fuel efficiency rules would cut the upfront cost of a new vehicle by about $1,000, or roughly 2% of the current average price of $50,000.
But the announcement was met with swift criticism from environmentalists, economists, and public health experts, who pointed to the government’s own numbers suggesting that drivers would collectively spend $185 billion more on fuel by 2050 and emit about 5% more carbon dioxide. As The New York Times reported, the rollback is “the second part of a one-two punch” against former President Joe Biden’s push to boost electric vehicles, following the earlier elimination of EV tax credits by Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress.
The new standards also come on the heels of other significant reversals. In June, Trump signed a joint resolution aimed at preventing California from implementing its own rules to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles—a move still being litigated. In July, he signed a sweeping Republican-backed bill that not only scrapped incentives for electric vehicles but also eliminated long-standing fines for automakers that fail to comply with fuel economy standards. As Energywire noted, this summer’s "megalaw" effectively “took the teeth out of Biden’s fuel economy rules,” making it easier for automakers to ignore the standards without fear of penalties.
Ford’s CEO Jim Farley, whom Trump singled out as having advocated especially hard for the change, said at the announcement, “Today’s a victory of common sense and affordability. We believe that people should be able to make a choice, as you said, Mr. President, and we will invest more in affordable vehicles.” Detroit’s “Big Three”—Ford, Stellantis, and GM—released statements welcoming the draft repeal, saying it would better align CAFE standards with market realities.
Yet, behind the scenes, auto executives are reportedly concerned about being buffeted by conflicting federal policies. According to The New York Times, while executives publicly praised the announcement, they have privately fretted about the uncertainty that comes with abrupt regulatory swings. The rollback also leaves the U.S. “further out of sync with the rest of the world, where the electric vehicle market is growing,” warned Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity in comments to The Washington Post. “This will signal to the Chinese that the world market is open to you and we’re just going to abandon it.”
Environmental and health experts say the consequences for consumers and public health could be severe. Jeff Alson, a retired Environmental Protection Agency engineer who helped establish clean car standards under the Obama administration, called the move “the final nail in the coffin of the Trump administration’s plans to completely obliterate the federal climate program writ large.” He argued that while rolling back the standards might save consumers about $1,000 on the sticker price, “the costs to consumers of higher gas prices would far outweigh the savings in the costs of new vehicles.” Citing a Department of Energy report released in April, Alson pointed out that without the Biden-era climate rules, gasoline prices are projected to rise by 76 cents per gallon.
Public health advocates also raised alarms about the impact on air quality, especially in urban regions like Philadelphia. Jane Clougherty, a professor at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, told WHYY News, “That has been an incredible boon for public health and millions of lives saved and early deaths averted, because of those improvements in air quality.” She explained that reducing fuel use would have lessened tailpipe emissions, including volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides—pollutants linked to asthma and cardiovascular disease. “In Philadelphia, we have a number of really important air pollution sources, including refineries and legacy industries around our region,” Clougherty said. “But no question, nitrogen dioxide is still one of the most important contributors to air pollution in our region.”
Jason Schwartz, legal director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law, called the rollback a “triple whammy,” arguing, “It’s bad enough to increase greenhouse gas emissions. It’s especially bad since we’re already in a climate crisis. It’s especially bad in combination with all of the other environmental rollbacks that we’re seeing. All those effects are just going to compound on each other.”
Opponents of the Biden-era rules have argued that the standards amounted to an “EV mandate,” forcing automakers to shift toward electric vehicles at the expense of consumer choice and affordability. They also claim that with the U.S. no longer dependent on foreign oil imports, the original justification for CAFE standards is outdated. But supporters counter that the rules have delivered major benefits for both the environment and public health, while also positioning the U.S. to compete in a rapidly changing global auto market.
Barry Rabe, a professor of environmental policy at the University of Michigan, told Energywire, “This is a final plank in an across-the-board effort to reverse Biden-era policies on vehicles.” He noted that while Trump has left some Biden-era artifacts in place—such as tax credits for critical minerals that benefit industries like semiconductors and defense—most of the landmark moves to accelerate the transition away from gasoline have been erased or modified.
With the Transportation Department expected to finalize the new rule in 2026, the future of U.S. vehicle policy remains uncertain. If the new CAFE rules are locked in through model year 2031, any subsequent administration would need to undertake a lengthy rulemaking process to revise them. For now, the rollback signals a decisive turn in federal policy, one that could shape the American auto industry—and its role in the global market—for years to come.
As the dust settles, the debate over fuel efficiency and the nation’s automotive future is far from over. What is clear is that the latest move has set the stage for a fierce battle over the direction of U.S. climate and transportation policy, with far-reaching consequences for consumers, industry, and the planet.
