Citing a new chapter with the incoming Biden administration, U.S. automaker Ford Motor Company cut ties with President Donald Trump and is encouraging other automakers to drop their involvement in a suit challenging California’s right to set more rigorous tailpipe emissions standards, according to The Hill.
Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s president of Americas and International Markets Group, wrote a letter to other automakers saying: “During the last year and a half of the Trump Administration, we essentially split into two camps. With the election settled, the preemption fight is now, at least for the next set of years, essentially moot. The more relevant issue is thus the question of the standards.”
As noted by The Hill, “the Trump administration rolled back ambitious mileage targets set for automakers under the Obama administration, it also revoked the waiver that for decades allowed California to craft tougher emissions standards that were in turn adopted by more than a dozen other states.”
While numerous automakers joined in the suit to back President Trump, other automakers signed a deal with California agreeing to meet emissions standards set closer to those under Obama.
Ford’s letter comes ahead of a meeting of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing auto manufacturers, and after an announcement from General Motors that they would leave the suit challenging California’s right to a waiver.
Ford is the second automaker to drop support for the Trump administration lawsuit after MG withdrew its support last week.
“To better foster the necessary dialogue, we are immediately withdrawing from the preemption litigation and inviting other automakers to join us,” GM said last week.
