The Trump administration is preparing to battle California’s tough car pollution regulations using an approach that federal courts already have rejected. Twice.

As the Trump administration begins to dismantle Barack Obama’s ambitious auto efficiency regulations, California is said to be poised to retaliate by doing something that automakers have feared: de-coupling the state’s rules with those set in Washington.

The internal combustion engine’s days may be numbered in California, where officials are mulling whether a ban on sales of polluting autos is needed to achieve long-term targets for cleaner air.