By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) – The Trump administration will soon announce sharply lower vehicle fuel-economy standards, reversing a push by the prior administration to force automakers to build more fuel-efficient vehicles, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday.
Under Republican President Donald Trump, the federal government has not detailed the final standard, but automakers expect it to be similar to a December proposal from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That proposed a fleetwide average of 34.5 miles per gallon (14.7 km per liter) by 2031, down from 50.4 miles per gallon (21.4 km per liter) under former President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
“We are about to announce a common-sense fuel economy standard because we want Detroit to build cars that Americans want to buy — not cars that Democrats want Washington to build,” Duffy said at an appearance in Michigan.
Biden focused on reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use, accelerating a transition to clean energy and making the U.S. a global leader in clean-energy technology and manufacturing.
NHTSA in December proposed retroactively revising down the 2022 fuel economy standard and then raising it between 0.25% and 0.5% annually through 2031. Biden increased required fuel efficiency for cars by 8% annually for model years 2024 and 2025, 10% for 2026 and 2% annually from 2027 to 2031.
Automakers get future compliance credits for achieving higher-than-required efficiency in prior model years, so the Trump administration’s retroactive change to 2022 will make it easier for the companies to meet future fuel standards.
Biden’s rules sought to prod automakers to build more electric vehicles to meet the rising fuel-efficiency standards.
NHTSA estimated its proposal would cut new vehicle costs by $930 each. But it would increase fuel consumption by around 100 billion gallons through 2050, fuel spending by $185 billion and carbon dioxide emissions by about 5%.
Congress decided in 2025 to no longer collect penalties for failure to meet vehicle fuel economy standards, saving automakers hundreds of millions of dollars, and ended $7,500 tax breaks for consumers who buy EVs. It also rescinded California’s authority to outlaw gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035, a move the state is challenging.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Cynthia Osterman)
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