Trump administration to upend Obama’s plans to maximise vehicle efficiency
Today, Environmental Protection Agency Director Scott Pruitt will sign a declaration denouncing the Obama administration’s vehicle efficiency rules set out for 2022 to 2025. Obama’s aim was to increase mileage by almost two-fold in automobiles sold in the United States in order to curb carbon emissions and petrol consumption.
Automakers are largely for policy changes that encourage selling cheaper, less efficient vehicles in order to maximise profits. In the meantime, states large enough to potentially levy their own regulations, like California, have allied with environmental organisations, threatening to resist national changes. However, these companies seek universal changes that all parties can agree to rather than giving way to conflict over federal standards.
This declaration could have noteworthy implications for the US auto industry, the world’s second-largest behind China. Reducing regulations on production could relieve automakers under pressure to hit the mark, as the declaration intends, and boost production in the short-term. But, undermining global efforts to combat climate change could further alienate the US from China especially, whose role in leading the reduction of carbon emission is crucial as Beijing also enters a trade spat with Trump.
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