California boycotts automakers in escalating emissions fight
LOS ANGELES — California is using a new strategy — the boycott — to push back against automakers that have sided with the Trump administration in the battle over the state’s regulation of tailpipe emissions.
Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state would stop buying vehicles from General Motors, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and other automakers who have joined with Trump in seeking to strip the state’s authority to set its own greenhouse gas emission standards. On Wednesday, the California Air Resources Board said its board members and staff would cut ties with those Trump-aligned automakers in another way, by not attending the L.A. Auto Show for the first time in more than 50 years.
The decision to sit out the annual expo, which begins this week, was more than symbolic because it has long been used as a venue for automakers to unveil “their most environmentally friendly cars and tried to position themselves as being very green,” Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols told reporters Wednesday.
“So it was important to me and to the governor that we sent the message that we’re not buying it this time,” Nichols said. “We’ve seen too much of talking out of both sides of their mouths coming from some of the larger companies and we simply can’t go along with it politely.”
The auto industry has been split in two by the fight between California and the
Trump administration. The White House wants to weaken the nation’s fuel efficiency standards and take away California’s power to set its own, stricter greenhouse gas emission standards that are vital to reducing air pollution and fighting climate change.
The Coalition for Sustainable Automotive Regulation, an industry group that includes GM, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler, issued a statement on the boycott of the L.A. Auto Show, saying “we are disappointed in CARB’s decision to ignore the substantial investments from automakers to build a more robust future for electric vehicles,” and encouraging “all parties, including California, to come together to agree on one national program that includes yearover-year emissions reductions.”
Nichols said the state’s recent actions are in direct response to 15 automakers last month joining a lawsuit with the Trump administration seeking to prevent California from setting its own emissions standards. Earlier this year, California air regulators went around the Trump administration, secretly negotiating a deal with Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW that rejects the federal government’s efforts to relax tailpipe pollution regulations in favor of gradually increasing fuel efficiency standards.
On Friday, Newsom’s administration announced it would prohibit state agencies from buying solely gas-powered sedans and only allow purchases from manufacturers that recognize the state’s authority to set its own pollution standards.