United States to approve, begin production of “smaller, more affordable” compact vehicles – Donald Trump

United States president Donald Trump has announced that he has instructed US secretary of transportation Sean Duffy to facilitate the clearing of regulations for small cars, of the type sold in Asia, to be made available in the United States.

The US president mentioned “small cars” that he had seen on his tours to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, and said that he has “authorised the secretary to immediately approve the production of those cars” in the United States, for the United States market, with brands Honda and Toyota mentioned by Trump and Duffy in a press conference.

The move comes alongside the Trump administration’s main announcement of repealing the fuel economy standards put in place by the previous administration under Joe Biden, which comes after the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) proposal to reset Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for vehicle model years 2022 through 2031, reported Road and Track.

Under the new proposal, fuel economy standards would increase by 0.5% per year for passenger cars and light trucks from model years 2023 through 2026, increase by 0.35% for cars and by 0.7% for trucks of model-year 2027, and by 0.25% for vehicles of both categories from model years 2029 through 2031.

The Trump administration stated its belief that fuel economy standards have forced carmakers to charge customers more for their products, according to the Road and Track report.

The fuel economy standards set by the Biden administration were predicted to have reduced American fuel consumption by around 70 billion gallons (265 billion litres) over the next 25 years, in turn estimated to save around US$23 billion (RM95 billion) in fuel costs.

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