Trump signs resolutions blocking California's pro-EV rules

President Donald Trump signed three resolutions Thursday barring California from mandating electric vehicle sales and setting tailpipe emissions standards designed to galvanize the transition away from combustion engines.

President Donald Trump signed three resolutions Thursday barring California from mandating electric vehicle sales and setting tailpipe emissions standards designed to galvanize the transition away from combustion engines.

The resolutions undo California’s 2024 landmark decision to ban new gasoline-powered car sales by 2035 and revoke the federal waiver that allows it to set its own tailpipe emissions standards under the Clean Air Act. Seventeen states representing 30% of the U.S. vehicle market had adopted the plan, which Trump has called California’s “EV mandate.”

With Trump’s move, the 17 states will no longer be able to enforce California’s standards mandating electric vehicle sales by 2035. Trump also repealed California’s plan to require a rising number of zero-emissions heavy-duty truck sales.

“We officially rescued the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating the California electric vehicle mandate once and for all,” Trump said at a White House news conference.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that California will sue to “stop this latest illegal action by a President who is a wholly-owned subsidiary of big polluters.”