President Trump Announces He Will Roll Back Biden Administration Fuel Economy Standards

At a White House event on Dec. 3, President Donald Trump announced plans to rework Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Specifically, his administration will eliminate Biden-era regulations that would have required cars manufactured in the United States to maintain 50.4 miles-per-gallon (mpg) by model year 2031 and replace those rules with standards that require a fleetwide average fuel economy of 34.5 mpg by model year 2031.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, cars manufactured domestically currently average 24.4 mpg. “President Trump is returning CAFE standards to levels that can actually be met with conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles,” a White House fact sheet stated. “The Biden sdministration standards imposed unrealistic fuel economy targets that effectively resulted in an electric vehicle (EV) mandate.”

President Trump said his plan would reduce the average price of a new car by $1,000 compared to the Biden-era rules. The White House also argued the change would save U.S. families $109 billion in total over the next five years and save more than 1,500 lives and prevent nearly a quarter-million serious injuries through 2050.

As AXIOS reported, automakers praised the announcement. “We appreciate President Trump’s leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley.