Trump administration rolls back Biden-era fuel economy standards

The Trump administration on Monday finalized new fuel economy requirements that significantly ease standards put in place under former President Joe Biden, marking a major shift in federal policy on vehicle emissions and electric vehicle adoption.

Under the revised rules, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projects that the nationwide vehicle fleet will average 34.9 miles per gallon by model year 2031. That figure falls well short of the 50.4 mpg benchmark the Biden administration had set for the same year, according to CBS News.

The Corporate Average Fuel Economy program, first created by Congress in 1975, sets minimum fuel efficiency requirements for passenger cars as well as medium and heavy trucks. The standards have pushed automakers toward incremental efficiency gains for decades, and the Biden-era targets were designed in part to accelerate a shift toward electric and hybrid vehicles.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy defended the rollback, saying in a statement that the administration had eliminated what he called an improper requirement pushing automakers toward pricier electric models that many consumers did not want to buy.

The Department of Transportation projects the changes will cut roughly $1,300 from the average sticker price of new vehicles and give manufacturers greater flexibility in deciding what types of cars to build. Officials also estimate the new approach could save American consumers a combined $138 billion over the next five years.

The rollback arrives as gasoline prices have climbed sharply, driven in part by disruptions tied to conflict involving Iran. CBS News reported that the national average price per gallon stood at $4.48 on Monday, up from under $3 earlier in the year.

Industry reaction was mixed. John Bozzella, head of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, welcomed the change, arguing that the previous administration's targets amounted to a forced transition toward electric vehicles that did not match actual consumer demand or market conditions.

Not everyone in the industry expects major consequences. Sean Tucker, managing editor at Kelley Blue Book, said automakers are unlikely to redesign vehicle lineups around a policy that could be reversed again within a few years.

Some analysts also questioned whether the change would actually translate into cheaper vehicles for buyers. Ray Shefska, co-founder of CarEdge, told CBS News that with automakers already selling more than 15 million vehicles annually and enjoying wider profit margins under looser rules, there is little incentive to pass savings on to consumers. He suggested any extra revenue could instead help offset losses tied to earlier electric vehicle investments. Kelley Blue Book data cited by CBS News showed the average new vehicle cost $50,089 as of August, compared with $54,813 for a new EV.

Other experts were more supportive. Patrick Anderson, CEO of the Anderson Economic Group, argued that aligning fuel economy rules more closely with what consumers actually want to buy would help automakers avoid costly technology investments that had not delivered the promised fuel savings. He called the administration's $1,300 savings estimate realistic.

Environmental advocates pushed back sharply. Katherine García of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation For All campaign warned that less efficient vehicles would mean higher fuel consumption, higher costs at the pump and worse air quality in communities across the country.

The Department of Transportation said the new standards are expected to reduce U.S. oil consumption by about 1.3 billion barrels annually by 2050 compared with 2024 levels. That is a smaller reduction than what the Biden-era rules had projected, which NHTSA estimated would cut gasoline use by 14 billion gallons by 2050.

Federal officials maintained that while fuel-efficient vehicles typically carry higher upfront prices, long-term fuel savings would still outweigh those initial costs for consumers.