President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he has approved revised federal fuel-economy standards that his administration says will roll back parts of the Biden-era push toward electric vehicles, lower new-car prices and spur U.S. auto manufacturing.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump argued that previous standards raised costs for automakers and consumers and pushed the industry toward electric vehicles. He said the new rules will remove inefficiencies in U.S. vehicle production and produce "LOWER PRICES, saving families thousands on a new, beautiful, and safe car."
"These new Standards will take the waste out of building cars in America. That means LOWER PRICES, saving families thousands on a new, beautiful, and safe car," Trump wrote.
Details Still Unpublished
The White House announcement did not include the text of a final rule, and the administration had not immediately published supporting documents. Earlier administration proposals signaled plans to lower future fleetwide fuel-economy requirements, but it was not yet clear whether the changes Trump referenced match prior proposals or include further modifications.
Administration and Industry Response
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X that "a major victory for America's auto workers is COMING MONDAY," though he did not explicitly say whether he was referring to the same standards Trump cited. A White House spokesperson directed reporters to Duffy's post. The president also thanked Duffy and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for their work on the administration's auto policy agenda and said executives from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis told him they plan to expand U.S. production.
Environmental and Consumer Concerns
Environmental advocates and consumer groups cautioned that weakening fuel-economy standards could raise fuel consumption and increase costs at the pump. Atid Kimelman, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Newsweek that with gasoline prices above $4 per gallon for many Americans, rollback of standards would force consumers to pay more at the pump and likely boost profits for oil companies.
What Regulators Have Said
Earlier NHTSA proposals projected a fleetwide average of roughly 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031 under the administration's approach, compared with approximately 50.4 mpg under Biden-era standards. NHTSA estimated that its December proposal could reduce the average upfront cost of a new vehicle by about $930, but it also projected that the change would raise fuel consumption by roughly 100 billion gallons through 2050, add about $185 billion in fuel spending and increase carbon-dioxide emissions by about 5%.
In June 2025, Secretary Duffy published a rule titled "Resetting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program," arguing that previous standards relied too heavily on projected electric-vehicle adoption and compliance credits when setting targets under the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
Policy Context
Supporters of the rollback say it could lower vehicle sticker prices and reduce compliance costs for automakers. Opponents say it undermines efforts to reduce oil consumption and transportation-sector greenhouse gas emissions. Separately, Congress ended certain federal tax credits for EVs purchased after Sept. 30, 2025, and advanced measures challenging California's authority to require all new passenger-vehicle sales to be zero-emission by 2035 — actions that have prompted legal challenges and ongoing debate about federal and state regulatory authority.
The administration had not released a final rule or the accompanying economic analysis at the time of the announcement. Newsweek reached out to the Department of Transportation, Secretary Duffy and NHTSA for comment.
Reporting note: Newsweek reporters and editors used an in-house AI assistant to help produce this story.
