Making significant changes to fuel efficiency standards will cost jobs and put investments at risk, reads a recent white paper from the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA).
“[T]he Trump administration’s preferred choice of zero percent increases year-on-year through 2026 would result in a loss of 67,000 direct automotive industry jobs,” said a news release from the association quoting the white paper, which cites IHS Markit analysis. “This would result in an overall industry loss of 500,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs by 2025 in comparison to the employment levels supported by the augural standards.”
The paper cites “two solid economic reasons” for the U.S. ensuring continued progress in emissions standards: “investments by U.S. companies and continued job growth.”
The paper argues that changing standards now “would strand investments and move them overseas, and also would leave America behind in the global race to fuel-efficient vehicles.”
“It is not an overstatement to assert that U.S. companies’ ability to compete could be set back a decade,” the white paper adds.
For more information, visit www.mema.org.