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Major American automakers are trying to force the Trump administration to drastically weaken the fuel efficiency standards of the Obama era, resulting in "unsustainable" uncertainty and protracted litigation.
In a letter to President Trump, 17 companies, including Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Volvo, asked him to return to the negotiating table with California, which, with more than a dozen other states , is about to sue the administration to enforce stricter rules on automobile pollution to limit carbon emissions from transport, the most emitting economic sector. The companies also sent a letter to Democrat Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, asking for the same thing.
The Trump administration has proposed to revoke a California Clean Air Act waiver, followed by more than a dozen other states, allowing it to set more stringent vehicle emission standards than the federal rules.
"The automakers share California's environmental idealism and the economic pragmatism of the Washington administration," said Gloria Bergquist, vice president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a representative occupational group. the major car manufacturers. Washington Examiner. "Choosing one or the other is neither necessary nor prudent. It's a false choice. Between the two lies a workable compromise that properly balances these two crucial obligations.
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Wheeler, had already Washington Examiner The Trump administration will not compromise on its final proposal to be presented this summer and will revoke California's and other states' waivers to set tougher fuel economy rules.
The EPA, in collaboration with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, proposed last August to freeze the energy efficiency rules for cars and light trucks of the Obama era, instead of raising them every year between the model years 2020 and 2026.
The Trump administration argued that Obama's stricter rules would make new cars unaffordable, forcing drivers to use older, less safe and less environmentally friendly vehicles.
But the administration and California were still seeking a compromise before the settlement was finalized.
The White House, however, broke off negotiations with California on Feb. 21 and has since attempted to convince skeptical automakers to back its plan.
Auto manufacturers, who prefer a flexibility in Obama's rules, and not a categorical rejection, consider the Trump plan too extreme. Automotive groups said they hoped to maintain a set of common rules with efficiencies of one year on the other that California would agree to follow, allowing automakers to sell the same models in all states and avoiding the uncertainty of protracted litigation.
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