Major automakers on Tuesday urged the Trump administration to not freeze fuel-efficiency standards and to keep one national program for the vehicle rules.
“We support standards that increase year over year that also are consistent with marketplace realities,” Mitch Bainwol, chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing major automakers, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a hearing Tuesday morning.
The White House is planning to meet with automakers Friday to discuss its plans to toss strict fuel-efficiency rules established by former President Barack Obama. The EPA has rejected the Obama standards, at the urging of automakers, but is considering weakening them to an extent that automakers may not like.
The Trump administration is considering a proposal to freeze fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions targets at 2020 levels through 2025.
Obama’s fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas rules for cars and light trucks had set a 54-mile per gallon standard by 2025, up from the current average of 38.3 mpg.
The EPA also is weighing challenging California over a waiver it has that allows it to set its own, stricter fuel-efficiency standards. California is leading a coalition of states suing the Trump administration for rejecting the Obama standards.
Automakers want changes to the rules to reflect lower gasoline prices and customer preference for larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles, but they also want the Trump administration and California to reach an agreement to maintain a single national program.
Automakers worry that if the national rules are significantly weaker than state standards, they would face a patchwork of regulations. Bainwol called for the EPA to ensure that “one national program is maintained.”
