Composite story
Trump administration finalizes lower fuel-economy standards for new cars
Washington, District of ColumbiaPublished 28 Sep 2026
U.S. Department of Transportation / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · source
In Washington, the Transportation Department set a 2031 fleet average of 34.9 miles per gallon, down from the Biden-era 50.4. Officials said the change would cut new-car prices; critics said drivers would burn more fuel and breathe dirtier air.
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Disputed opinions
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Trump admin finalizes reversal of US fuel economy standards
Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026
Facts
The rule's own data show that 34.9 miles per gallon was already achieved two years ago.
The department said the change would prevent more than 300,000 serious injuries and save 1,900 lives by encouraging new-car sales.
The Center for Biological Diversity has vowed to sue.
Because the rule lowers standards back to model year 2022, automakers will earn credits for beating those weaker targets over the past four years.
The standards require vehicles to achieve the maximum feasible miles per gallon.
The Biden administration calculated that target would save 64 billion gallons of gasoline through 2050.
The Biden administration calculated the target would deliver $35 billion in savings to consumers.
Opinion
AFP said the rule change was partly symbolic.
Dan Becker said the standards Trump is gutting were the biggest single step any nation has taken to cut gasoline use, pump costs, and global-warming pollution.
Trump says he is rolling back Biden-era US fuel economy rules for cars
Published 26 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026
Facts
The Biden administration said the measures would cut fuel use and emissions and help drivers save money at the pump.
Automakers must meet average fuel-economy targets across the cars and light trucks they sell.
Trump did not provide details on what the new fuel-economy standards would be.
Automakers increased electric-vehicle production to help meet the Biden fuel-economy requirements.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an announcement would be coming Monday.
Opinion
Al Jazeera said the rollback widens the gap between U.S. policy and a global trend toward electric vehicles.
Trump administration to slash clean car rules aimed at cutting climate emissions
Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026
Facts
The move relaxes pollution-control requirements for gasoline cars and light trucks for model years 2022 through 2031.
Joe Biden's target was that half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030.
The department calls the initiative Freedom Means Affordable Cars.
Katherine García said the Sierra Club will fight the rule.
The Biden administration raised required fuel efficiency 8 percent a year for model years 2024 and 2025, 10 percent for 2026, and 2 percent a year from 2027 to 2031.
The department said the proposal would increase fuel consumption by about 100 billion gallons through 2050.
The department said the proposal would increase fuel spending by $185 billion.
The department estimated that proposal would cut the average new-vehicle cost by $930.
The department said the proposal would raise carbon-dioxide emissions by about 5 percent.
Harold Wimmer said decades of fuel-economy standards have made new cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks more efficient.
Harold Wimmer said children are especially vulnerable to traffic pollution, including weaker lung growth, new asthma cases, worse symptoms, and more respiratory illness.
Harold Wimmer cited a poll by the American Lung Association that found a strong majority of voters supported stricter limits on vehicle emissions.
Opinion
The Guardian said Trump falsely calls the policy an electric-vehicle mandate.
Dan Becker said consumers will pay for the rollbacks while oil and auto companies take the short-term profits.
Katherine García said loosening the fuel standards would make driving more expensive too.
Harold Wimmer said the new rule will create more air pollution, harm health, and speed climate change.
Harold Wimmer said there is no reason to weaken standards that are feasible and that improve the air people breathe.
Harold Wimmer said those standards save lives and money.
The Trump administration weakens fuel efficiency standards for new cars
Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026
Facts
The final rules require new car and truck fleets to get up to 1 percent more fuel-efficient each year.
Biden-era rules required a 2 percent annual increase in fuel efficiency.
Administration officials say fuel-efficiency technology is expensive and has helped drive up the cost of vehicles.
The administration has delayed federal dollars for a nationwide electric-vehicle charging program.
AAA said the national average price of gasoline is close to $4.50 a gallon.
NHTSA said the final rule eliminates automakers' ability to trade credits for making electric vehicles.
Under the Biden-era standards, automakers needed electric vehicles to offset gas guzzlers or they faced a fine.
AAA said diesel is close to $6.50 a gallon, just short of last week's record.
The United States is now the world's largest oil producer.
American automakers hope to keep selling cars in foreign markets that may have stricter emissions standards.
NHTSA said the old system pushed manufacturers to adopt technology that does not meet what American families want.
Many later fuel-economy rule changes have been driven by concerns about climate change.
Soon after, NHTSA opened a public comment period.
Sue Helper said the price of new cars has gone up quite a lot.
Republicans often criticized that Biden-era credit-trading system.
A 2023 Consumer Reports analysis found that between model years 2003 and 2021, vehicles got about 30 percent more fuel-efficient.
That analysis attributed higher prices to an industry shift toward expensive SUVs, not to fuel-efficient technology.
Ellen Hughes-Cromwick said high interest rates are pushing up the average monthly car payment.
If vehicles are less fuel-efficient, drivers will need to fill up more often.
Ellen Hughes-Cromwick said the fuel-economy change risks hindering American automakers in the global industry over the long term.
A new car's monthly cost depends on the auto loan, which follows the Federal Reserve's benchmark rate and the buyer's credit score.
Sue Helper said those large vehicles are not as popular outside the United States.
Automakers that decide models and factories years ahead may keep the course they are already on.
Opinion
Sean Duffy said this administration is delivering relief to families and reviving American manufacturing.
Dan Becker said rolling back the standards would increase gasoline use and pollution, costing consumers at the pump and at the doctor.
Economist Sue Helper said easing the standards will hinder the industry's shift toward more efficient and electric vehicles.
NPR said a future administration could change the fuel-economy rules again.
NHTSA said the old system added cost and pushed more consumers out of an already unaffordable new-car market.
Sue Helper said much of that price rise is not because of fuel-economy standards.
Sue Helper said the rule change is good in the short term because automakers make a lot of profit on large trucks and SUVs.
Ellen Hughes-Cromwick said the future of the industry is the transition to electric vehicles.
Sue Helper said the change leaves the United States in a protected market where others are not competing.
NPR said a cut in the sticker price might eventually be offset by spending on gas.
NPR said the administration's latest move could face legal challenges that take time in court.
Trump Guts the Biden-Era Rule That Forced Cars to Be More Fuel Efficient
Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026
Facts
The government's own analysis says the move could lead drivers to pay hundreds more for gas each year.
That analysis says the move could worsen the country's ability to weather oil-price shocks.
Trump said every manufacturer, from General Motors to Ford to Stellantis, has called him wanting to build in the United States.
Sean Duffy said changing the rules will let companies produce cars that are more affordable and safer.
The Trump administration standards do not count electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids, which pulls the fuel-economy average down.
Pete Buttigieg said U.S. manufacturing jobs are down under Trump, including in the auto industry.
The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have shown how geopolitical shocks reach American drivers.
Dave Cooke said that since an Obama-era revision, the standards have saved drivers more than $300 billion in fuel costs.
Trump eliminated the 2009 endangerment finding that underpinned vehicle-emissions standards.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded to Trump's post reversing the Biden-era standards.
That NHTSA analysis says thousands of auto-industry jobs would disappear.
Automakers and federal officials have argued the Biden-era standards are too hard to achieve because they relied too much on electric vehicles.
NHTSA officials said requiring big fuel-economy gains distracted automakers and shifted resources away from safety.
Sales of fully electric cars have dropped since the tax credits disappeared.
Hybrid sales continue to climb.
When officials analyzed the proposal, they excluded electric vehicles from the modeling.
The analysis says health harms from higher emissions, including ER visits, worse asthma, heart attacks, and premature deaths, would increase.
Americans have continued to buy electric vehicles, but at a slower pace.
The official analysis says traffic deaths and crash damage would drop because people drive less when they get fewer miles per gallon.
In another model used for environmental analysis, where electric vehicles are included, the same trends apply.
Opinion
Trump called the Biden-Buttigieg policy a ridiculous electric-vehicle mandate.
Trump called the vehicles built under the old rules environmental monsters.
The Washington Sun said that justification defies the government's own research and undercuts the history of the rule.
Pete Buttigieg said lowering the standards hands the clean-technology future to China and forces Americans to pay more at the pump.
Dave Cooke said the country is reliving the moment the fuel-economy standards were designed for.
Pete Buttigieg wrote that Trump's strategy failed and that this rollback will too.
The Washington Sun said U.S. leaders were stoking conflict in the Middle East when those first rules were written.
The Washington Sun said that exclusion means the analysis is not reflective of real-world conditions.