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Trump administration officially cuts fuel economy standard
Automakers must achieve a 34 mpg fleet average for cars and light trucks, down from almost 50 mpg
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy cast the rollback as a means to make new vehicles more affordable. (Bilanol/Getty Images)
Key Takeaways:
- The Trump administration finalized standards requiring automakers’ cars and light trucks to average 34.9 mpg in model-year 2031.
- The requirement is well below the roughly 50 mpg standard finalized under former President Joe Biden.
- Automakers must meet the lower target as supporters cite affordability and critics warn consumers will spend more on gasoline.
The Trump administration finalized a significant weakening of federal fuel economy standards for automobiles, rolling back a key policy that had pushed the industry to improve the efficiency of cars and trucks and sell more battery-electric vehicles.
Automakers must achieve a fleet average of 34.9 miles per gallon for cars and light trucks in model-year 2031, the Transportation Department said Sept. 28. That’s far less than the roughly 50 miles per gallon required by standards finalized under former President Joe Biden.
The move advances Trump’s effort to unwind federal policies that had pushed the auto industry to improve the efficiency of their gasoline-powered cars and trucks and sell electric vehicles in greater numbers. President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked those measures as an “EV mandate” that drove up new car prices, calling the policies “ridiculously burdensome.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy cast the rollback as a means to make new vehicles more affordable. Even before gasoline prices soared due to the war in Iran, critics of Trump’s push argued that weakening fuel economy requirements will lead to consumers paying more at the pump.
The final rule represents a win for the auto and oil industries that had complained the requirements effectively discouraged the sale of traditional gas-fueled combustion engines in favor of emission-free electric models. Automakers had argued the standards, which were toughened under Biden, were too aggressive and acted as an effective requirement to sell more EVs than the market would support.
