Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) delivered sharp criticism of President Donald Trump on Tuesday, reaffirming that the latter favors oil companies over consumers as the administration rolled back fuel economy standards.
Massive Wealth Transfer to Oil Companies
In a post on X, Newsom quoted a post by Reuters that said the rolling back of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards will increase gas consumption and emissions.
The White House did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for a comment.
“After forcing us to pay $120 BILLION more for fuel because of his idiotic war with Iran,” Newsom said, “Donald Trump is now rolling back fuel standards so new cars get even fewer miles per gallon,” he added. Newsom called the move a “massive wealth transfer” from ordinary Americans to oil companies.
Newsom had earlier criticized the move, saying that the rollback would increase emissions and pollution, while also pointing to record-high gas prices at the pump since the war with Iran kicked off in February this year.
According to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average price of gas was down to $4.4558/gallon on Tuesday. However, California’s average price of gas jumped to $6.3803/gallon on Tuesday.
Sean Duffy Backs CAFE Rollback
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy backed Trump’s fuel economy rollback, touting the move as the end to an EV mandate in the auto sector put in place by former President Joe Biden and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Duffy also said that the move would make cars cheaper by $1,300 and result in savings worth $138 billion over five years.
Earlier, economist Peter Schiff had lamented the cost disparity between prices of vehicles in the U.S. and prices of “high-quality” Chinese vehicles in countries like Panama. Schiff pointed out that the vehicles were over half the cost of their U.S. counterparts.
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