The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed a significant rollback of carmakers’ fuel economy standards, dealing a blow to efforts to curb vehicle emissions and throwing the weight of the federal government squarely behind gas-powered cars as other nations throughout the world continue to invest heavily in electric vehicles.

The new proposal concerns the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards — regulations that require automakers to meet a specific average fuel economy for their entire fleet of cars and light trucks by certain model years.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Wednesday alongside Republican lawmakers and leaders of some of the nation’s top auto manufacturers, Trump described the standards as “ridiculously burdensome

See Full Page