Trump announced Wednesday that he will cancel an executive order that sets stringent automotive emissions through 2025 models.
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will cancel an executive order that sets stringent automotive emissions through 2025 models.
He said CAFE standards now will face a midterm evaluation in 2018 as originally planned during a talk in front of 3,000 auto workers at Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti.
The decision on the emission standards followed visits with the leaders of U.S.-based auto companies in January when Trump hosted them at the Oval Office. They told him their concerns about it, while he countered with the desire to see increased US hiring and production.
"We want to be the car capital of the world again," Trump told the crowd.
The president's 18-minute talk centered on the action involving the CAFE standards, but Trump also drew cheers from the crowd as he spoke of rebuilding American manufacturing and restoring respect for autoworkers.
"We will work tirelessly to end regulation ... to ensure level playing field for all American workers," Trump said.
He also hinted at a major announcement to come next week about the auto industry.
Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards were mandated by Congress in the mid-1970s.
They returned to the spotlight in 2011 when President Obama and 13 automakers announced an agreement to increase fuel economy to 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty trucks by model year 2025.
That agreement was finalized in 2012 for model years 2017-2025, with a midterm evaluation in 2018.
However, in the days before President Barack Obama left office, the EPA decided to keep the more stringent regulations in place starting with model year 2022.
The move angered the auto industry, which is coming off of its second record-setting sales year thanks in large part to sales of large trucks and SUVs. Environmentalists, however, said the ruling would accomplish the original intention of reducing global warming.
Under CAFE standards, the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the US would have to be 54 mpg, with the "window sticker" mileage at about 40 mpg.
The average fuel economy - as shown on window stickers - of new vehicles sold in December was 24.9 mpg, down 0.1 from November, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
But it's the effects of that regulation on the auto industry that Trump is addressing as a way of bolstering its place in the American economy.
The trade deficit reached $800 billion, Trump said, with an imbalance created by manufacturing overseas that entered the US with little or no tariffs.
That is a situation that he is focusing on as he creates his administration's policy and direction, he said.
"A great nation must protect its manufacturing," Trump said. "America cannot be a wealthy nation ... with the exodus of our jobs."
Revisiting CAFE standards is a start for US automakers, but other issues remain over emissions. One example is the zero-emission regulation in California, which - along with 16 other states - requires 18 percent of new car sales to be electric.
"What the industry does not want is fragmented standards," said Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America, after Trump spoke. Lentz cited the separate standards in California as a "disaster" for the industry and consumers.
"I would love to see one national standard," Lentz said.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said
"It's an opportunity to make sure they stay as competitive as possible by making great products," Snyder said.
Asked whether the 54 mpg goal was not going to be reached, Snyder said, "That's an issue for the industry experts to talk about."
"But it's important they have that opportunity because those goals were set so long ago."