President Trump said Tuesday his administration’s weakening of Obama-era fuel efficiency standards would slash the cost of new vehicles and help auto industry workers, and he bashed industry officials skeptical of the move as “foolish executives.”
“My Administration is helping U.S. auto workers by replacing the failed Obama Emissions Rule,” Trump said in a series of tweets. “Impossible to satisfy its Green New Deal Standard; Lots of unnecessary and expensive penalties to car buyers!”
Trump also boasted that his agencies’ new rule would lower average car prices “by more than $3500, while at the same time making cars substantially safer,” and he slammed auto companies, some of whom have sided with California in a feud with the federal government over the rules, as “politically correct.”
My proposal to the politically correct Automobile Companies would lower the average price of a car to consumers by more than $3500, while at the same time making the cars substantially safer. Engines would run smoother. Positive impact on the environment! Foolish executives!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2020
The president’s tweets, though, don’t exactly match up to his administration’s final rule. While officials from the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency boasted a $200 billion reduction in costs from their new rule, half of which would accrue to industry in the form of regulatory savings, their numbers show consumers would actually see reductions in the sales price per new vehicle of less than a third of what Trump touts in his tweet, or about $1,000.
Consumers would see a $1,400 decrease in the total cost of vehicle ownership from the new rule, according to the agencies.
The Trump administration’s new rule would require carmakers to improve fuel efficiency by 1.5% each year, as opposed to the nearly 5% the Obama-era standards called for. The White House did back off, though, from its initial plans in 2018 to freeze the standards at 2020 levels, a proposal many of the automakers publicly asked the president to reconsider.
Former President Barack Obama, in his own tweet Tuesday, sharply criticized the Trump administration’s new rule. “We can’t afford any more consequences of climate denial,” he said. “All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall.”
