Trump Moves to Roll Back Biden-Era Fuel Economy Rules for Cars

US President Donald Trump has announced plans to roll back fuel economy standards introduced under former President Joe Biden, saying the move will reduce vehicle prices and encourage automakers to increase production in the United States.

Trump said in a social media post on Saturday that the new standards would “terminate” what he described as Biden’s “EV mandate,” arguing that the previous administration had imposed costly requirements on automobile manufacturers and pushed consumers towards electric vehicles.

However, there is no federal law requiring Americans to purchase electric vehicles or banning the sale of petrol-powered cars.

The changes centre on the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, a system established by Congress in 1975 that requires automakers to meet average fuel-efficiency targets across the cars and light trucks they sell.

Under rules finalised by the Biden administration in 2024, fleetwide fuel economy requirements were scheduled to increase from 39.1 miles per gallon (mpg) to about 50.4 mpg by 2031. The Biden administration said the policy would reduce fuel consumption and emissions while helping motorists save money on fuel.

Automakers subsequently increased electric vehicle production as part of efforts to meet the stricter fuel economy requirements.

Trump’s administration has been working to reverse several Biden-era policies supporting lower-emission vehicles. Meanwhile, Congress last year removed consumer tax incentives for electric vehicles as part of Trump’s tax and spending legislation.

Trump did not provide full details of the new standards. However, in December 2025, his administration proposed setting the industry-wide average for light-duty vehicles at around 34.5 mpg by 2031, which would be more than 30 percent below the Biden-era target.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said further details would be announced on Monday.

Al Jazeera reported that it had contacted the White House for comment.

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