Trump to sign resolutions nixing California's EV rules

US President Donald Trump will sign three resolutions on Thursday approved by lawmakers barring California's electric vehicle sales mandates and diesel engine rules, auto industry and House aides told Reuters.

Trump is signing resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to bar California's landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035, which has been adopted by 11 other states and representing a third of the US auto market.

Trump will sign one resolution to repeal a waiver granted by the US Environmental Protection Agency under former Democratic President Joe Biden in December, allowing California to mandate that at least 80 per cent of vehicles be electric vehicles by 2035.

The White House declined to comment. The White House invited numerous auto industry officials to attend the signing on Thursday, sources said.

Trump will also sign a resolution approved by Congress to rescind the EPA's 2023 approval of California's plans to require a rising number of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks, and another resolution on California's low-NOx, or low-nitrogen oxide, regulation for heavy-duty highway and off-road vehicles and engines. The signing is a win for General Motors, Toyota, auto dealers and other automakers that heavily lobbied against the rules, and a blow to California and environmental groups that say the requirements are essential to ensuring cleaner vehicles and cutting pollution.

California announced a plan in 2020 to require that by 2035 at least 80% of new cars sold be electric and up to 20% plug-in hybrid models.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has vowed to challenge the repeals in court, saying the action by Congress is illegal and would cost California taxpayers an estimated $45 billion in additional health care costs.

Since 1970, California has received more than 100 waivers under the Clean Air Act.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing GM, Toyota, Volkswagen Hyundai Stellantis and others, previously praised the repeal.

"The fact is these EV sales mandates were never achievable," the group's CEO, John Bozzella, said. "In reality, meeting the mandates would require diverting finite capital from the EV transition to purchase compliance credits from Tesla."

These are the latest actions in recent months taking aim at electric vehicles.

A separate bill passed by the US House of Representatives in May would end a $7,500 tax credit for new EVs, impose a new $250 annual fee on EVs for road repair costs and repeal vehicle emissions rules designed to prod automakers into building more EVs. It would also phase out EV battery production tax credits in 2028.