Trump Rolls Back Already Unenforceable Fuel Efficiency Standards In Bid To Make Cars Cheaper
Hey you there! Yes you! Would you like to buy a car that pollutes more and costs you more each month to fill up at the gas station? Of course you would, who could say no to such a proposition! President Donald Trump sure thinks it’s a winning deal. He had the CEOs of the Big Three in his office Wednesday to announce an end to President Biden’s goal of a fleet-wide MPG average of 50 miles per gallon by 2031. Now the mandate calls for 34.5 mpg average across an automaker’s line up.
I know you’ll be shocked to learn this entire affair was pointless grandstanding to make people think the White House is doing something about rising prices, as Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill Act removed any enforcement of fuel efficiency standards months ago. Trump added Wednesday that his Environmental Protection Agency could remove tailpipe requirements from the Clean Air Act altogether, and also said his administration would reclassify CUVs and SUVs as passenger vehicles. Trump thinks he’s removing a “market distortion that existed for decades.” Yeah, it is a distortion, as automakers only focused on such vehicles due to a loophole in previous safety and tailpipe requirements.
And what kind of savings do we get with all this environmental and public health destruction? About $1,000 per car, along with, somehow, $109 billion over six years. From the Detroit Free Press:
“They were anti-economy (standards),” Trump said on Wednesday, Dec. 3, of the earlier rules put in place by the Biden administration, which had the effect of promoting electric vehicle sales and which Trump campaigned against. “They were horrible, what they were doing to costs, and they actually made the cars much worse.”
“People were brainwashed,” Trump said of the effort to promote production of electric vehicles or EVs under Biden in a ceremony at the Oval Office, where he was surrounded by auto executives, auto dealers and members of Congress. “People were paying too much for a car that didn’t work as well and now they’re going to have a great car that is going to be environmentally friendly but it’s going to cost you a lot less.”
Reminder: the average price of cars in the U.S. has shot up form $38,000 in 2020 to $50,000 today. $12,000 in five years isn’t from fuel economy standards, but go off king.
Naturally, automakers were thrilled with the roll back. Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley, who oversaw the death of the affordable small car at Ford, is tickled pink by the chance to sell Americans vehicles that are more expensive to fuel and more destructive to the environment and their customer’s communities:
“Today is a victory of common sense and affordability,” Farley said. “Eighty percent of the vehicles we sell here, we make in our country, and we never left, unlike many of our competitors. This CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standard, that is aligned with customer demand, is the right move. We believe that people should be able to make a choice as you said Mr. President.”
Farley went on to say, “We will invest more in affordable vehicles. This allows us to invest in affordable vehicles made in the US, which we will take the lead on and it will allow us to make vehicles more affordable.”
Stellantis, which makes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Fiat brands, was represented at the White House by its CEO Antonio Filosa, who also praised the proposal. “It’s a great day for us at Stellantis because it’s the day when we see CAFE standards reconciled with real customer demands.”
Trump then told the folks gathered that none of the Big Three would even still be in existence without tariffs, which I’m sure is news to Mary Barra, who oversaw the company’s strongest sales growth since 2019 last year. Ford also saw a net income of $5.9 billion last year, and a 5% climb in revenue.
After the inane announcement, everyone just milled around while Trump said horrible things about the Somali community in Minnesota. Just another day in Trump’s America.
