President Donald Trump is set to announce a loosening of vehicle fuel efficiency standards that were put in place during the Biden administration, a White House official confirmed to ABC News Wednesday.
A White House official confirmed reports that the reset of the federal fuel efficiency standards, which Trump is set to announce in the Oval Office alongside auto executives on Wednesday afternoon, is expected to save Americans up to $109 billion. The details of the announcement were first reported by Fox News.
"As America's largest auto producer, we appreciate President Trump's leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities. We can make real progress on carbon emissions and energy efficiency while still giving customers choice and affordability. This is a win for customers and common sense," Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement to ABC News.
ABC News has confirmed that Farley and Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa will be in attendance at the event in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
The 2024 rule from the Biden administration mandated a 2% increase in fuel efficiency each year for vehicles produced between 2027 through 2031 and a 20% per year increase, which would bring the average vehicle fuel economy up to about 50.4 miles per gallon.
The transportation sector is one of the most significant contributors of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, with cars and trucks accounting for a majority of those emissions, according to the EPA.
The Trump administration says the rollback of fuel economy standards is about reducing vehicle costs, but that's not an established fact, with a Consumer Reports analysis of vehicle-purchase data for 2003 to 2021 model years finding "no systemic, statistically significant increase in inflation-adjusted vehicle prices across vehicle classes or vehicle nameplates."
-ABC News' Matthew Glasser, Clara McMichael and Michelle Stoddart
