President Trump resets Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards

President Donald Trump is resetting the Biden Administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards. The White House said in its fact sheet, “President Trump is returning CAFE standards to levels that can actually be met with conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles. The Biden Administration standards imposed unrealistic fuel economy targets that effectively resulted in an electric vehicle mandate. The Trump Administration’s reset of the CAFE standards ensures the program’s fidelity to the legal restrictions set forth by Congress. The Biden standards broke the law by going far beyond the requirements that were mandated by Congress when it created the CAFE program. The Biden Administration created extraordinarily stringent fuel economy standards for passenger cars and trucks, set at such aggressive levels that they were impossible to meet with available technologies for gas cars. The Biden standards would have compelled widespread shifts to EVs that American consumers did not ask for, accompanied by significant cost-of-living increases. Since EVs are so expensive to build, automakers must sell them at a loss and make up the difference by significantly raising the sticker price of gas cars. If President Trump had done nothing, the Biden standards would have raised the average cost of a new car by nearly $1,000, relative to the cost under the standards announced today. President Trump’s actions will save American families $109 billion in total over the next five years. By helping more Americans buy newer, safer vehicles, this reset is projected to save more than 1,500 lives and prevent nearly a quarter-million serious injuries through 2050.” Publicly traded companies in the space include Ford (F), General Motors (GM), Honda (HMC), Lucid Group (LCID), Mercedes-Benz (MBGYY), Nissan (NSANY), Rivian (RIVN), Stellantis (STLA), Tesla (TSLA), Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen (VWAGY).