President Donald Trump signed three congressional resolutions Thursday that block California’s electric vehicle mandates and emissions standards, effectively preventing the state from setting nationwide environmental regulations for cars and trucks.
The measures overturn Environmental Protection Agency waivers that had allowed California to implement its Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks, and Omnibus Low NOX programs.
Trump called the resolutions “bipartisan measures” that “prevent California’s attempt to impose a nationwide electric vehicle mandate and to regulate national fuel economy by regulating carbon emissions.” The president argued that vehicle emissions standards should be set at the federal level, not by individual states.
“Our Constitution does not allow one State special status to create standards that limit consumer choice and impose an electric vehicle mandate upon the entire Nation,” Trump said.
Under the Congressional Review Act, the EPA is now prohibited from approving future waivers that are “substantially the same” as those overturned. This effectively bars California from using Clean Air Act provisions to regulate greenhouse gas emissions or mandate electric vehicles in the future.
Trump emphasized that Section 209 of the Clean Air Act was designed to address “only compelling and extraordinary localized issues.” He stated it “can never again be misused to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, which inherently do not have localized effects.”
The resolutions block California from implementing programs that would have phased out new gasoline-powered vehicle sales and imposed stricter emissions standards for diesel trucks and buses.
By signing the measures, Trump declared he had ended “the electric vehicle mandate for good.” The move represents a significant rollback of state-level climate policies that had influenced automaker strategies nationwide.