When US President Donald Trump recently announced the repeal of vehicle energy efficiency regulations, he described it as the end of the “new green scam.”
With these words, Trump alluded to the outgoing Biden administration’s efforts to electrify transportation in the United States. Under Biden, automakers were offered incentives to phase out cars with internal combustion engines in favor of low-emission, climate-friendly electric vehicles.
Since taking office in January 2025, the Trump administration has already repealed incentives aimed at taking fossil fuel-powered cars off the road.
That includes repealing a Biden executive order that required 50 percent of cars sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030. In addition, billions in funding for charging infrastructure were frozen and a $7,500 tax break for electric vehicle purchases was eliminated. Trump has simultaneously withdrawn funding for green energy programs in favor of oil and gas.
Arguing that “absurd emissions standards” would “kill” the auto industry, Trump acknowledged to a group of auto executives in the Oval Office that energy efficiency standards also made cars too expensive.
Industry experts say electric vehicle incentives led to increased investment in electric cars and charging infrastructure and created new jobs. But Trump has now vowed to forego an electrified future in favor of 19th century technology.
Will gasoline cars be cheaper than electric cars?
The cuts will only require U.S. vehicles to maintain fuel economy of about 35 miles (56 kilometers), as opposed to the 50 miles per gallon required in Biden’s updated standards for 2022-2031 model years passenger cars and light trucks.
Critics claim that these cuts will harm both the climate and consumers. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat whose state is a powerhouse of renewable energy and electric vehicles, said Trump was “giving his big oil donors exactly what they want: less protection for consumers and more benefits for polluters.”
Confirming estimates from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Newsom said national fuel consumption would have been reduced by 70 billion gallons (265 billion liters) per year under current efficiency standards.
Steven Higashide, director of the Clean Transportation Program at the U.S. nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, says weakening fuel economy standards will ultimately drive up the price of gasoline. “Pollution from American vehicles and dependence on oil have declined, and drivers can save money by choosing more efficient vehicles,” he said in a statement.
Higashide said 50 years of increasingly stringent energy efficiency standards have helped protect drivers from oil market shocks, provide them with cleaner air and ultimately save them more than $5 trillion.
China is consolidating its dominance in clean cars
Trump’s decision to lower car efficiency standards is “a clear victory” for the US oil industry, says Ben Scott, director of energy demand at British climate think tank Carbon Tracker. “But it’s an even bigger victory for China as it moves the United States further away from the transition to electric vehicles,” he added.
About 20 percent of cars sold worldwide in 2024 were electric, a whopping 25 percent increase from 2023. Of the 17 million cars sold, China accounted for 11 million, compared to about 1.6 million in the United States. Nearly half of domestic car sales in China were electric cars in 2024, compared to 10 percent in the United States.
And in direct contrast to the United States, China dominates the global electric vehicle market thanks to huge government incentives that have also helped drive down costs and make low-emission cars cheaper than most gasoline models in the country.
Trump’s moves to curb electric vehicles will exacerbate this divide by locking American automakers into outdated internal combustion engine technology “instead of fully embracing the future,” Scott says.
U.S. auto giant Ford said this week it was scrapping plans to electrify larger vehicles in part because of regulatory changes and would turn its attention to gasoline and hybrid pickup trucks.
Although China currently has an oversupply of electric vehicles, due in part to tariffs from the United States and the European Union restricting exports, Scott believes these cheaper cars will reach markets in the Global South. “The switch to electric vehicles is inevitable everywhere,” predicts the expert.
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