Trump announces plan to roll back to 2020 automobile 'environmental standards'

President Donald Trump said Monday his administration would be rolling back to 2020 automobile "environmental standards." The president's statement was in response to a question from a reporter in the Oval Office concerning Trump's meeting with Stellantis Chairman John Elkann. 

When asked what he discussed with Elkann, Trump said it wasn’t related to tariffs on automobiles. Rather, he said, it was a discussion about “some problems they have with the environmental.” His administration, he said, would “probably go back to a 2020 standard.” 

“They’re making it so difficult. All over the world, they’re making it. It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference, either, for the environment,” Trump said. 

He said the standard makes it “very difficult to build a car.” Trump didn’t specify which environmental standards impacting automobiles would be rolled back. 

The Biden-Harris administration passed two major standards on vehicle emissions, including the tailpipe emission standards, which sets limits on emissions from vehicles, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which limits emissions across fleets of vehicles.