Trump announces review of tougher U.S. fuel-economy requirements

U.S. President Donald Trump moved Wednesday to reinstate a midterm review oftougher U.S. vehicle fuel economy standards that were brought in during the Obama administration.

Trump made the announcement at the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti,Mich., the site of a former Second World War bomber plant that is beingturned into an automotive testing and product development facility.

"We want to be the car capital of the world again," Trump told the audiencegathered for the announcement.

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Under former president Barack Obama, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proclaimed a rule for cars and trucks requiring a fleet-wide average of 36miles per US gallon in real-world driving by 2025. That fuel consumption figureequates to just over 6.5 litres per 100 kilometres.

Trump's announcement takes aim at the Obama administration's January decisionto lock in strict gas mileage requirements for cars and light trucks, endinga review process before he left the White House.

In 2012, the Obama administration set fuel-economy regulations for modelyears 2017 to 2025 and agreed to complete a midterm evaluation by 2018. Sevendays before Obama left office, the EPA decided to keep the tough requirements it had set in place for model years 2022 to 2025.

The auto industry said the decision had been rushed through to beat thechange in administrations.

The EPA confirmed Wednesday it will make adecision by April 2018 on whether the fuel consumptionrequirements for the 2022 to 2025 modelyears are feasible.

"These standards are costly for automakers and the American people," said EPA administrator Scott Pruitt in a statement.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a major U.S. industry group, backed Trump's action.

"The Trump administration has created an opportunity for decision-makers to reach a thoughtful and co-ordinated outcome predicated on the best and mostcurrent data," Mitch Bainwol, the president and CEO of the group, said in astatement.

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Environmental groups panned Trump's move.

"This change makes no sense," said Rhea Suh, president of the NaturalResources Defence Council. "Mileage standards save consumers money at the gaspump, make Americans less dependent on oil, reduce carbon pollution andadvance innovation."

Changes to U.S. fuel consumption requirements could result in matchingchanges in Canada. Back in 2012, Peter Kent, the environment minister in theConservative government of the time, unveiled new rules aimed at cuttingemissions and fuel consumption after the U.S. government finalized its standards.

At the time, the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association said itsupported the tougher fuel standards, stating that harmonization with theU.S. would allow companies to spread anticipated increased costs over alarger consumer base.

Speaking on CBC News Network, Dale Marshall, national program manager at Environmental Defence,said it is quite likely that California and several others states will continue to adhere to the tougher fuel standards, which could diminish the possible effects of a rollback.

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