Automakers side with Trump in legal fight with California

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Major automakers are siding with the Trump administration in its bid to bar California from setting its own fuel efficiency rules or zero-emission requirements for vehicles, the companies said in a filing with a U.S. appeals court late on Monday.

The move by firms including General Motors, Toyota Motors, Hyundai Motor, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, follows legal challenges by California and 22 states and environmental groups in September.

Those challenges aim to undo the Trump administration’s determination, issued in September, that federal law bars California from setting stiff tailpipe emission standards and zero-emission vehicle mandates.

In their filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the automakers and the National Automobile Dealers Association said they backed the administration bid to bar individual emissions rules by states.

They asked to intervene, arguing the administration’s rule provided “vehicle manufacturers with the certainty that states cannot interfere with federal fuel economy standards.”

The decision to side with President Donald Trump could prompt a furious backlash from Democrats and environmentalists.

It also poses a risk for automakers if a Democrat wins the White House in next year’s election and reverses Trump’s actions, and also reinstates California’s right to set its own rules and tougher national emissions standards adopted by President Barack Obama.

A spokeswoman for California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the action “doesn’t change our resolve to fight as long and hard as necessary to protect our standards.”

She added, “The courts have upheld our authority to set standards before and we’re hopeful they will yet again.”