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President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a proposal to weaken vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry, loosening regulatory pressure on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks. The plan, if finalized next year, would significantly reduce fuel economy requirements, which set rules on how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline, through the 2031 model year. The administration and automakers say the rules will increase Americans access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projects that the new standards would set the industry fleetwide average for light-duty vehicles at roughly 34.5 miles per gallon in the 2031 model year, down from a projected 50.4 miles per gallon in 2031 under the Biden-era rule. The move is the latest action by the Trump administration to reverse Biden-era policies that encouraged cleaner-running cars and trucks, including electric vehicles, and it sparked criticism from environmental groups. Burning gasoline for vehicles is a major contributor to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. “From day one Ive been taking action to make buying a car more affordable, Trump said at a White House event that included top executives from two of the largest U.S. automakers. The rule reverses a Biden-era policy that “forced automakers to build cars using expensive technologies that drove up costs, drove up prices and made the car much worse, Trump said. Automakers applaud and environmentalists decry rule change The action is expected to save consumers about $1,000 off the price of a new car, Trump said. New cars sold for an average of $49,766 on average in October, according to Kelley Blue Book. Automakers applauded the planned changes, which came amid industry complaints that the Biden-era rules were difficult to meet. Ford CEO Jim Farley said the planned rollback was a win for customers and common sense. As Americas largest auto producer, we appreciate President Trumps leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities. We can make real progress on carbon emissions and energy efficiency while still giving customers choice and affordability, he said. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said the automaker appreciates the administrations actions to realign the mileage standards with real world market conditions. Since taking office in January, Trump has relaxed auto tailpipe emissions rules, repealed fines for automakers that do not meet federal mileage standards, and terminated consumer credits of up to $7,500 for EV purchases. Environmentalists decried the rollback. In one stroke Trump is worsening three of our nations most vexing problems: the thirst for oil, high gas pump costs, and global warming, said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign for the Center for Biological Diversity. Gutting the (gas-mileage) program will make cars burn more gas and American families burn more cash,” said Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All program. This rollback would move the auto industry backwards, keeping polluting cars on our roads for years to come and threatening the health of millions of Americans, particularly children and the elderly. ‘People want the gasoline car’ Trump has repeatedly pledged to end what he falsely calls an EV mandate, referring incorrectly to Democratic President Joe Bidens target that half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. EVs accounted for about 8% of new vehicle sales in the United States in 2024, according to Cox Automotive. Trump called Democrats’ efforts to promote EVs insane, adding, People want the gasoline car. No federal policy has required auto companies to sell EVs, although California and other states have imposed rules requiring that all new passenger vehicles sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035. Trump and congressional Republicans blocked the California law earlier this year. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged his agency to reverse existing fuel economy requirements, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, soon after taking office. In June, he said that standards set under Biden were illegal because they included use of electric vehicles in their calculation. EVs do not run on gasoline. After the June rule revision, the traffic safety administration was empowered to update the requirements. The new rules are going to allow the automakers to make vehicles that Americans want to purchase, not vehicles that Joe Biden and (former Transportation Secretary Pete) Buttigieg want to build, Duffy said Wednesday. Under Biden, automakers were required to average about 50 miles (81 kilometers) per gallon of gas for passenger cars by 2031, compared with about 39 miles (63 kilometers) per gallon today. The Biden administration also increased fuel-economy requirements by 2% each year for light-duty vehicles in every model year from 2027 to 2031, and 2% per year for SUVs and other light trucks from 2029 to 2031. At the same time, it called for stringent tailpipe rules meant to encourage EV adoption. The 2024 standards would have saved 14 billion gallons of gasoline from being burned by 2050, according to the traffic safety administrations 2024 calculations. Abandoning them means that in 2035, cars could produce 22,111 more tons of carbon dioxide per year than under the Biden-era rules. It also means an extra 90 tons a year of deadly soot particles and 4,870 additional tons a year of smog components such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds going into the air in coming years. Mileage rules have been implemented since the 1970s energy crisis, and over time, automakers have gradually increased their vehicles average efficiency. Weakening fuel economy standards wont do much to make cars more affordable but is certain to make Americans buy a lot more gasoline,” said Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association. The action also harms domestic manufacturers that have invested heavily in EV technologies and hired thousands of employees to build them, Gore said. GM CEO skips White House event Notaby absent Wednesday was General Motors CEO Mary Barra, who was attending a previously scheduled event in New York City, a company spokesperson said. A GM plant manager represented the automaker at the White House instead. Like Ford and Stellantis, GM has poured billions of dollars into electrification of its fleet. In a statement, the company said it supports the goals of the proposed rule. “We remain committed to offering the best and broadest portfolio of electric and gas-powered vehicles on the market, GM said. Matthew Daly and Alexa St. John, Associated Press Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Seth Borenstein contributed to this report. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Category:
E-Commerce
The bill that brought the government back online last month ended the shutdown with an unexpected catch that could crush an entire industry. A hidden provision slipped into the bill just before it passed has nothing to do with the federal shutdown and everything to do with hempthe version of cannabis thats grown as a food, a fiber, and, in recent years, as the active ingredient in an array of sodas, gummies, and snacks crafted to give people an alcohol-free buzz. Hemp is legally defined as a variety of the plant Cannabis sativa L. that contains less than .3 percent of the most common form of THC, the psychoactive compound from marijuana that gets people high. In 2018, a multiyear agricultural law known as a farm bill created that distinction, removing hempthe very low-THC version of cannabisfrom being lumped in with the controlled substance marijuana. That small shift gave birth to a booming industry of hemp-based THC drinks and snacks, which quickly hit store shelves even where recreational cannabis is illegal. Now, a provision in the federal spending bill will limit the amount of THC in a beverage or edible to .4 milligramswell below the 10 milligrams promised by some of the hemp-based drinks found on gas station shelves. While hemp contains much less THC than the high concentrations present in marijuana plants, hemp-based THC can still give people a dose-dependent buzz when ingested. Businesses interested in the THC loophole also began converting CBD, a nonintoxicating compound in hemp, into other forms of THC that were not subject to the same restrictions and bottling it up for customers. The combination of THCs recreational appeal and the ease with which businesses could now sell and ship hemp-based THC products inspired a lot of entrepreneurs to jump into the recreational side of the hemp industry. Now that part of the industry is poised to be regulated out of existence over worries that weed by another name was suddenly everywhere. Whether a looming ban on hemp-derived THC drinks is common sense or a terrible misstep depends on your perspectiveand your business interests. Beyond booze With drinking on the decline as the health impacts of alcohol come to light, a wave of new companies view THC drinks as a future proof, zero-proof alternative to booze. That includes breweries large and small, which began experimenting with THC brews to offset their losses as the craft beer boom fizzles. Xander Shepherd, who cofounded Artet, a company that sells THC-infused spritzes and aperitifs, says that he and his cousin went into business to bring THC to our familys Thanksgiving dinners. On a deeper level, we were motivated by the belief that THC has an important role to play in the progression of cocktail culture, Shepherd told Fast Company. Our stated mission is to prove to the world that infused drinks belong on the bar cart, or the dining room table, or anywhere else you might find a great bottle of wine or a fine spirit. Because the farm bills hemp rules appeared to be settled law at the federal level, the regulatory environment looked safe enough for a huge variety of companies to start producing and selling THC-based candies, canned drinks, vape oils, and other products. In the face of an uncertain future, Shepherd says Artet hopes to continue to open peoples minds and palates about its trendy THC sippables. The THC trends detractors paint a different picture. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell quietly pushed through the regulatory change to purposefully undo a loophole he helped create. McConnell emphasized that the change wouldnt affect the industrial hemp industry, which grows the plant for products like biofuels, fiber, and paper, and was designed to rein in the rise of intoxicating and synthetic THC products. I am proud to have championed this language that keeps these products out of the hands of children, secures the future of regulated hemp businesses, and keeps our promise to American farmers and law enforcement by clarifying the intention in the 2018 Farm Bill, McConnell said of the bill. An uncertain future States are also wrestling with the issue, weighing their worries against the success of a young industry thats creating jobs and pulling in substantial tax revenue. Prior to the bills passage, a group of attorneys general from almost 40 states wrote Congress with their concerns about the proliferation of widely available THC products, cautioning that convenience stores and gas stations are stocked to the brim with psychoactive THC products. For Artet, the game plan is to continue being a good steward in an industry thats increasingly attracting scrutiny. We feel that providing a good example for consumers and legislators is one way we can help undo this potentially looming prohibition, Shepherd said, noting that many brands in the space work hard to keep their THC products safe. Artets bottles come with a special child-resistant cap and a shot glass for pouring precise servings, two measures it takes to keep customers safe and sipping as intended. Ultimately, those bad actors are wildly outnumbered by business owners and brands who are trying to do things the right way, even when it makes the job harder, Shepherd said. We do these things because we believe theyre the right thing to do, and were not alone in our efforts.
Category:
E-Commerce
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met separately with President Donald Trump and Republican senators Wednesday as tech executives work to secure favorable federal policies for the artificial intelligence industry, including the limited sale of Nvidia’s highly valued computer chips to U.S. rivals like China. Huang’s closed-door meeting with Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee came at a moment of intensifying lobbying, soaring investments, and audacious forecasts by major tech companies about AIs potential transformative effects. Huang is among the Silicon Valley executives who warn that any restrictions on the technology will halt its advancement despite mounting concerns among policymakers and the public about AI’s potential pitfalls or the ways foreign rivals like China may use American hardware. Ive said repeatedly that we support export control, that we should ensure that American companies have the best and the most and first, Huang told reporters before his meeting on Capitol Hill. He added that he shared concerns about selling AI chips to China but believed that restrictions haven’t slowed Chinese advancement in the AI race. We need to be able to compete around the world. The one thing we cant do is we cant degrade the chips that we sell to China. They wont accept that. Theres a reason why they wouldnt accept that, and so we should offer the most competitive chips we can to the Chinese market, Huang said. Huang also said hed met with Trump earlier Wednesday and discussed export controls for Nvidias chips. Huang added that he wished the president a happy holidays. The Trump administration in May reversed Biden-era restrictions that had prevented Nvidia and other chipmakers from exporting their chips to a wide range of countries. The White House in August also announced an unusual deal that would allow Nvidia and another U.S. chipmaker, Advanced Micro Devices, to sell their chips in the Chinese market but would require the U.S. government to take a 15% cut of the sales. The deal divided lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where there is broad support for controls on AI exports. A growing battle in Congress Members of Congress have generally considered the sale of high-end AI chips to China to be a national security risk. China is the main competitor to the U.S. in the race to develop artificial superintelligence. Lawmakers have also proposed a flurry of bills this year to regulate AI’s impact on dozens of industries, though none have become law. Most Republican senators who attended the meeting with Huang declined to discuss their conversations. But a handful described the meeting as positive and productive. For me, this is a very healthy discussion to have, said Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican. Rounds said lawmakers had a general discussion” with Huang about the state of AI and said senators were still open to a wide range of policies. Asked whether he believed Nvidia’s interests and goals were fully aligned with U.S. national security, Rounds replied: They currently do not sell chips in China. And they understand that theyre an American company. They want to be able to compete around the rest of the world. Theyd love to some time be able to compete in China again, but they recognize that export controls are important as well for our own national security.” Other Republicans were more skeptical of Huang’s message. Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who sits on the upper chamber’s Banking Committee, said he skipped the meeting entirely. I dont consider him to be an objective, credible source about whether we should be selling chips to China, Kennedy told reporters. Hes got more money than the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and he wants even more. I dont blame you for that, but if Im looking for someone to give me objective advice about whether we should make our technology available to China, he’s not it.” Some Democrats, shut out from the meeting altogether, expressed frustration at Huang’s presence on Capitol Hill. Evidently, he wants to go lobby Republicans in secret rather than explain himself, said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. Warren added that she wanted Huang to testify in a public congressional hearing and answer questions about why his company wants to favor Chinese manufacturers over American companies that need access to those high-quality chips. Matt Brown, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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