WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is resetting the former Biden administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, calling them "costly and unlawful.”

"Today, my administration is taking historic action to lower costs for American consumers, protect American auto jobs, and make buying a car much more affordable," Trump said at the White House.

"We're officially terminating (former President) Joe Biden's ridiculously burdensome CAFE standards," he added, calling them a “green new scam.”

In a fact sheet released by White House, the administration said the new standards would return fuel economy requirements to levels “that can actually be met” using conventional gasoline and diesel technology — a sharp departure from the previous rules, which the White House said effectively created a mandate for electric vehicle (EV) adoption.

Trump said $70 billion is now being invested in the American auto industry.

"People were paying too much for a car that didn't work as well, and now they're going to have a great car that's going to be environmentally friendly, but it's going to cost you a lot less, and it's going to work great. All of the nonsense is being taken out of the cars," he said.

Fossil fuel emission from combustion engines are one of the main drivers of global warming, which Trump has called a “Chinese hoax.”

A rising number of destructive extreme weather events and soaring temperatures in recent years are the result of global warming, according to an overwhelming consensus from the international scientific community.