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Trump Blasted for 'Unconscionable' Auto Industry Giveaway That Will Worsen Pollution
“The EPA has one job, to protect the health and welfare of the American people," said one critic. "But, yet again, the Trump EPA is choosing polluters over people.”
May 15, 2026
The US Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed postponing enforcement of vehicle emissions standards enacted during the Biden administration, a move that critics warned will worsen air pollution, one of the leading risk factors for premature death in the United States and around the world.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed delaying Biden-era emission standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles for two years until model year 2029, claiming that implementation of the policy meant to ensure that a majority of new light vehicles sold in 2032 were electric is "unattainable," and that Americans "overwhelmingly rejected" electric vehicles.
“Freedom is the foundation of this nation, and this includes the freedom to choose the car you drive. The American people have been very clear; they do not want EVs forced upon them,” said Zeldin, who took more than $400,000 in Big Oil campaign donations during his tenure in the New York state Legislature and US Congress, and who questions the scientific consensus on climate change.
Zeldin claimed the proposal "is projected to save over $1.7 billion" for US automakers, "providing hundreds of dollars saved per vehicle for American families," and "aims to return EPA regulations to reality, restoring consumer choice, protecting good paying American jobs, and strengthening the nation’s global competitiveness."
It will also kill people. More than 100,000 people die prematurely in the United States each year due to breathing polluted air. According to a 2024 Environmental Protection Network analysis, President Donald Trump’s rollbacks of pollution rules could cause the deaths of nearly 200,000 people in the United States by 2050.
“In its latest unconscionable act, Trump’s EPA looked at a rule intended to protect public health from toxic tailpipe pollutants while saving tens of thousands of lives, and decided it could wait," Public Citizen Climate Program deputy director Deanna Noël said Friday.
"The decision will not just cost lives; it will cost working-class people more money in medical bills, more missed days of work, and more years chained to volatile gas prices," Noël continued.
"Working families are already stretched thin. Everything from groceries to home insurance to gas is getting more expensive, with no end in sight," she added. "Delaying commonsense emissions standards will only make communities sicker and send costs higher. The EPA’s entire reason for existing is to protect public health and the environment. Yet under this administration, it has been weaponized to serve corporate interests over the American public, no matter the cost.”
According to the advocacy group Climate Power, fossil fuel industry interests spent more than $445 million during the 2024 election cycle on campaign donations, lobbying, and other efforts to bolster Trump and other Republican candidates and causes.
Responding to Zeldin's announcement, Natural Resources Defense Council clean vehicles director Kathy Harris said in a statement that “the EPA has one job, to protect the health and welfare of the American people. But, yet again, the Trump EPA is choosing polluters over people."
“Delaying these standards is going to mean more toxic pollutants spewing from tailpipes, and more soot and smog in our cities," she continued. "That means more asthma, more heart attacks, and more lung disease."
“EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claims to want to provide clean air and clean water, but time after time he is acting to increase pollution," Harris added. "The Trump administration’s war on our health continues unabated.”
EPA’s vehicle rollback would leave children breathing more traffic pollution for years.Delaying Tier 4 standards means more smog, fine particles, and toxic emissions from vehicles that will stay on the road for decades.EPN’s response: www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org/20260514_tie...
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— Environmental Protection Network (@enviroprotnet.bsky.social) May 14, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Zeldin's proposal is part of a wider Trump administration push to roll back Biden’s efforts to promote electric vehicles, and serves Trump's "drill, baby, drill" energy policy. Last year, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered the cancellation of Biden-era fuel efficiency and emissions standards for cars and light trucks
During Trump’s second term, the EPA has moved to repeal or replace stronger carbon emission limits on fossil-fueled power plants, revoked California’s ability to enact stricter vehicle emissions rules, and signaled plans to overturn the agency’s finding that greenhouse gases are a public health hazard.
The EPA has also revoked the long-standing “endangerment finding” that allowed it to pass climate regulation, stopped counting the monetary value of reducing pollution, weakened water and wetland protections, rolled back regulations limiting so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water, dramatically cut or eliminated environmental justice programs, reduced enforcement of environmental violations, dismantled advisory and scientific panels, removed all mentions of human-caused climate change from its website, and more.
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As Trump Drives Up Gas Prices and Trashes Economy, US Auto Debt Hits Record High
"Reckless actions on the economy and the expensive fallout from the war in Iran has made it harder for working families to purchase a car and has left millions more feeling major pocket pain at the pump," one researcher said.
May 06, 2026
As Americans on Wednesday continued to face the economic fallout of President Donald Trump's war on Iran, a gallon of gasoline cost $4.536, the average transaction price for a new vehicle was $49,275, and a pair of progressive groups published a report detailing "how surging auto loan debt is hurting households."
"The costs of purchasing and financing a car have been going up for years," noted Protect Borrowers senior fellow Tara Mikkilineni, who co-authored the report, "When The Wheels Come Off," with other experts from her organization and The Century Foundation.
"Unfortunately, the Trump administration's reckless actions on the economy and the expensive fallout from the war in Iran has made it harder for working families to purchase a car and has left millions more feeling major pocket pain at the pump," Mikkilineni said. "For millions of working families, a car is not a luxury, it is an essential economic lifeline. Working families deserve relief and they deserve to have a government that is watching out for them, not allowing lenders and auto dealers to rake in record profits at their expense."
Mikkilineni's team found that "in recent years, aggregate total auto debt has reached $1.68 trillion, a 37% jump since early 2018, and now comprises the largest volume of outstanding loan debt ever recorded. At the end of 2025, nearly 86 million Americans—roughly 28% of consumers—have outstanding auto loan or lease debt. Residents in states where driving is most necessary, such as Texas, Alaska, Louisiana, and Florida, are struggling with the highest levels of auto debt."
"Borrowers carrying auto loans see significantly higher and faster credit card balance growth—regardless of income level—suggesting that auto debt cascades into broader financial pressure," according to the report. Specifically, "between early 2018 and late 2025, credit card balances for middle-income borrowers with auto debt surged by 31%, while those without auto loans saw a notably lower growth of 17%. Borrowers with extended-length auto loans are carrying monthly balances on their credit cards that are 190% of (that is, nearly twice) their monthly income."
"At the end of 2025, the average origination balance for an auto loan reached $33,519, an amount $10,000 higher than the average in 2018, due to massive increases in the price of even the most basic cars and a shortage of 'affordable' car models," the publication explains. "Borrowers are also facing higher interest rates. Today, the average annual percentage rate (APR) for auto loans is nearly 10%, up from 7.5% in 2018."
Financially vulnerable borrowers are being hit particularly hard by current conditions. The researchers found that for those with the most limited access to credit, "the average APR is up to 18.7%, which means a six-year loan on a $30,000 car will cost $20,000 in interest alone. Furthermore, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native borrowers face higher interest rates than their white and Asian counterparts."
NEW from @cnbc.com: Auto debt is crushing families. Our new report with @borrowerjustice.bsky.social shows that 86 million Americans owe a staggering $1.68 trillion in auto loan debt, with auto debt now reaching the highest level ever recorded. www.cnbc.com/2026/05/06/c...
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— The Century Foundation (@tcfdotorg.bsky.social) May 6, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Affordable vehicles are also harder to find these days. Sean Tucker, a managing editor at Kelley Blue Book, told CNBC that "in 2017, [automakers] built 36 models priced at $25,000 or under... Today? Four."
Tucker said that a "record" share of new cars—over 43%—are now bought by households with incomes of at least $150,000. According to him, "Automakers are serving that market."
Angela Hanks, another report co-author and chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation, stressed that "for the overwhelming majority of working families, a car is a necessity—yet purchasing a car has become a financial trap, eating up more of people's paychecks than ever before."
With so many US communities lacking quality public transit, some US families in need of a vehicle turn to loans with longer terms. The report points out that "for these borrowers, even after taking on these riskier products with additional lifetime costs, auto loan payments are still nearly 20% of their monthly income, meaning nearly $1 out of every $5 they earn will go toward car payments over the seven years of their loan."
Hanks highlighted that "while families drown" from costly, extended-term loans, "the Trump administration is refunding big businesses for the tariffs that consumers paid, with interest."
The Trump administration last month launched a portal designed to facilitate refunds for around $166 billion in tariffs that the US Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional, but only businesses that directly paid the import taxes are eligible, even though companies largely passed on the cost hikes to consumers.
Meanwhile, the president responded to the high court's decision by imposing temporary import taxes, and his administration is pursuing "plan B," holding hearings required to impose tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a different legal authority than the one Trump used last year.
The new report concludes by calling on US policymakers to act: "Amidst the growing affordability crisis, Americans deserve urgent action to bring down costs and rein in profiteering from the dealers and lenders who have been allowed to get away with nickel-and-diming working families for far too long."
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77% of Americans Blame Trump for Soaring Gas Prices as GOP Lacks Iran War Exit Plan
"Gas prices are skyrocketing because of Trump's war," said the Democratic House whip. "If just a few Republicans are willing to choose the American people over Trump, we can stop this reckless war today."
Apr 24, 2026
With the national average price for a gallon of gasoline sitting at $4.059 on Friday, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that fuel costs "are a very big concern" for 78% of Americans, and 77% blame President Donald Trump for the recent price spikes.
Fossil fuel prices worldwide have soared since Trump and Israel launched an illegal war on Iran in February, and the Iranian government responded by restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route, particularly for oil and liquefied natural gas.
Among the 3,577 registered voters polled by Reuters/Ipsos last week and early this week, 82% of Democrats, 79% of Independents, and 73% of Republicans said fuel prices are a major concern. Although there's some disagreement when it comes to blame, clear majorities—95% of Democrats, 82% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans—point the finger at the president.
An overall majority, 58%, also said they would be "less likely" to vote for a candidate who supports Trump's approach to the Iran war in the November midterm elections—in which Democrats hope to seize control of the US Senate and House of Representatives. That included 90% of Democrats, 68% of Independents, and 19% of Republicans.
According to Reuters, Sarah Chamberlain, a strategist and president of the Republican Main Street Partnership, which advocates for conservative lawmakers, acknowledged that the war is turning into a liability for the party.
"Right now, it's bad. People are upset," Chamberlain said. "Republicans are obviously very concerned about maintaining the House, but if we can get through the Iran situation by summertime and gas prices drop back down, or at least go down maybe not to quite the level they were prior to the war, then I think we have a really good shot."
As AAA explained Thursday: "Drivers are getting a bit of relief at the pump as the national average went down by 6 cents since last week to $4.03. Crude oil prices have come down below $100/barrel, helping drive down the cost of gasoline for consumers. But how long the downward trend will last is uncertain with continued instability along the Strait of Hormuz."
After Trump announced earlier this month that he'd agreed to a ceasefire with Iran, which has since been extended, the international climate group 350.org warned that "'fossilflation'—or inflation caused by volatile and rising prices of oil and gas—is still likely to continue," due to the fragility of the deal and extensively damaged infrastructure in the waterway.
Trump has repeatedly dismissed consumer concerns about fuel costs—but also suggested that his own energy secretary, former fracking executive Chris Wright, was wrong that gas prices may not drop below $3 per gallon until next year. He's also continued a blockade of Iranian ports during the ceasefire and claimed Thursday that the United States has "total control over the Strait of Hormuz. No ship can enter or leave without the approval of the United States Navy. It is 'Sealed up Tight.'"
However, that claim notably came after Iran seized two container ships in the strait on Wednesday, and The Washington Post reported that during a classified briefing for members of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, a Pentagon official said that it could take six months to fully clear the waterway of the Iranian military's mines.
"Gas prices are skyrocketing because of Trump's war," House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said on social media Thursday. "After weeks of lies and broken promises, the GOP still has no exit plan or strategy. If just a few Republicans are willing to choose the American people over Trump, we can stop this reckless war today."
There have been three failed votes on war powers resolutions aimed at ending Trump's Iran war in the House, and five in the Senate. Three Congressional Progressive Caucus members—Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)—separately introduced more resolutions this week. Khanna explained that he introduced the bill in coordination with the CPC "just so that we can continue to have options to have votes."
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