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Editorial illustrationTrump says he has approved new US fuel-economy standards
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Trump says new US fuel-economy standards will make cars cheaper, but his post did not specify the final requirements or when they would take effect.
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President Donald Trump said on Saturday, 26 September 2026, that he had approved new US fuel-economy standards and predicted that families would save thousands of dollars on a new car. His post gave no figures for the new standards or a date when they would take effect. [1]
The announcement follows a proposal Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled in December 2025 to relax fuel-economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks. A federal review of a fuel-economy amendment at the final-rule stage concluded in August 2026, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) programme page still lists the December plan as a proposal. [2] [3] [4] [6]
Under that proposal, NHTSA projected an industry-wide average of roughly 34.5 miles per gallon for model year 2031, compared with 50.4 mpg under Biden-era requirements, as reported by Reuters. [5] [6]
The US Department of Transportation has described the Biden-era standards as a “backdoor electric vehicle mandate”. The standards set targets for manufacturers’ fleets on average; they do not require drivers to buy electric cars. [2] [7]
Meaning and implications
For the December proposal, the US Department of Transportation forecast a $1,000 reduction in the average cost of a new vehicle — less than the thousands Trump now predicts. Reuters reported a separate NHTSA estimate of $930 per vehicle, alongside projections of about 100 billion gallons of additional fuel use through 2050 and $185 billion in extra fuel spending. Those forecasts concern the earlier proposal and do not necessarily describe the standards Trump says he has now approved.
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