Trump Promises To Make Cars Cheaper, By Making You Pay More For Gas

• The Trump Administration is dramatically rolling back federal fuel efficiency targets.
• The Biden Administration wanted automakers to achieve a 50-mile-per-gallon average by 2031. Trump is lowering the target to 34.5 mpg.
• With the other major emissions program already gutted, this move sets the U.S. on a lonely path, setting us up to fall further behind Europe and China in green technology.

The Trump Administration is proposing a rollback of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fuel efficiency standards, cutting the target from 50.4 miles per gallon on average to just 34.5 mpg.

The administration is doing this to make new cars more affordable, it claims, but don’t be fooled: This is another gift to the fossil fuel industry, and its primary effect on consumers will be making them pay more for fuel.

It’s a dramatic rollback in ambition compared to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards set by the Biden Administration, which set aggressive goals designed to encourage more efficient vehicles and heavier investments into electrification, as Reuters noted. The goal was to reduce the harm from climate change and ensure American competitiveness with electric vehicles from China.

Trump has systematically destroyed that strategy in his first year back in office. As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress has already eliminated the penalties for exceeding the CAFE rules, effectively neutering the policy. It is trying to roll back vehicle emissions standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency as well.

All of this, Trump said today, is under the auspices of making your next new car more affordable. How much more affordable, you ask? “[NHTSA] estimates the proposed rule would reduce average up-front vehicle costs by approximately $900,” Reuters reported. A whole nine hundred dollars. Take that, BYD. The rule would, however, “significantly boost American fuel consumption.”

And with the administration also attempting to revoke California’s right to set its own EV sales requirements—which over a dozen states now follow—we may no longer have a state-level program that pushes manufacturers to make more efficient vehicles.

Automakers and dealers, naturally, have been cheering these moves every step of the way. The National Auto Dealers Association was quick to commend the administration’s latest rollback, saying the group has always advocated for affordable vehicles and consumer choice. Considering that gas cars are more profitable to sell and far more profitable to service for dealers, it is no surprise that dealers have aggressively lobbied to reduce fuel efficiency targets.  

So what happens when efficiency requirements go away?

Cars get less efficient. Anything else is just a byproduct of the conscious choice the administration is making to de-prioritize fuel efficiency. As a result, these regulations will lead to Americans paying more at the pump. As Consumer Reports reported in January: “Since 2001, efficiency improvements, driven by standards, have delivered over $9,000 in savings to consumers when fueling up their vehicle over the lifetime of the average new car sold in the U.S. in 2024.”

On the margins, some companies may be able to remove some emissions equipment or simplify manufacturing. But I’m not convinced that this will be common, or passed on as meaningful savings to consumers. A few months ago, our own Tim Levin asked Chris Harto, a senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports, whether the CAFE standards rollback would make cars cheaper.

“There’s almost a 0% chance—as close to a 0% chance as you can have—that eliminating these standards will reduce the cost of vehicles to consumers,” Harto said. “What it is going to do is drive up the fuel cost for consumers.”

There still is a corporate fuel economy target, which means automakers will still have to navigate the regulations, and use technologies that offer marginal gains across the fleet. But the standards will now be far from the rest of the world’s ambitious goals.  

That puts American companies at a global disadvantage for the future. It leaves American consumers stuck with higher fuel bills. Most of all, it leaves us alone, unconcerned for the future of the planet and dope-sick on oil. At least some old farts will keep getting richer.

Contact the author: Mack.Hogan@insideevs.com