Trump Rolls Back CAFE Standards to 34.5 MPG by 2031

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a rollback of fuel economy standards for vehicles, proposing to lower the required average efficiency for new cars and light trucks to 34.5 miles per gallon by model year 2031. The move reverses regulations set by the Biden administration, which had aimed for 50.4 miles per gallon by the same year. Trump made the announcement from the Oval Office, joined by Ford CEO Jim Farley and Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa.

The Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards, established by Congress in 1975 to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, set fleetwide targets for how far vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel. Under the Biden administration, the rules were tightened to encourage automakers to produce more efficient vehicles, including electric models, as part of broader efforts to cut pollution and reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Trump's proposal, overseen by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, would apply to model years 2022 through 2031 and includes reclassifying certain crossovers as cars rather than light trucks, potentially easing compliance for manufacturers.

Trump described the change as a step to...