Automatic Against The People

The Trump regime has crossed a huge line in their war on California's environmental standards, declaring that automakers meeting the state's increased fuel efficiency standards are committing illegal collusion, and that the Justice Department is targeting Ford, Volkswagen, BWM and Honda over what it calls "antitrust violations."

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the decision of four automakers in July to reach a voluntary agreement with California to adopt state emissions standards violated antitrust law, people briefed on the matter said on Friday.

The antitrust division has sent a letter to the automakers indicating the Justice Department had opened a preliminary inquiry, the people said, and comes as the Trump administration has ramped up its opposition to automakers seeking to sidestep it on rolling back Obama-era fuel efficiency rules.

In July, Ford Motor Co (F.N), BMW AG (BMWG.DE), Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) and Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said they had reached a deal to adopt standards that were lower than Obama-era rules but higher than the Trump administration’s 2018 proposal.

In doing so, the automakers are defying the Trump administration’s effort to strip the state of the right to fight climate change by setting its own standards. Automakers fear years of legal battles and want to ensure certainty over the requirements they will face nationwide.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

Ford said on Friday it had “received a letter from the Department of Justice and will cooperate with respect to any inquiry.” Honda said it was cooperating with the Justice Department. The probe is in its early stages, the people said.

On Friday, general counsels at the Environmental Protection Agency told California Air Resource Board Chair Mary Nichols in a letter that its actions in connection with the voluntary agreement “appear to be unlawful and invalid.”

The letter, copies of which were also sent to the automakers’ chief executives, warned that commitments made by the automakers “may result in legal consequences given the limits placed in federal law on California’s authority.”

Nichols did not immediately respond to a request for comment. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the state “will continue its advance toward a cleaner future. We’re prepared to defend the standards that make that promise a reality.”

Public Citizen, an advocacy group, called the investigation “blatantly retaliatory” and suggested the Trump administration is “hell-bent on repealing the clean car standards.”

Of course it's retaliatory.  The entire Trump regime is built around being retaliatory. Nobody defies the Orange Emperor without paying the price, you see.

And let's not forget the Trump regime is slaughtering California's ability to enforce the Clear Air Act, too.

On Thursday, Reuters reported the administration was moving forward with plans to strip California of its waiver under the Clean Air Act to set its own vehicle emissions rules and requiring a rising number of zero emission vehicles.

Acting Office and Management Budget Director Russ Vought said in a statement “a handful of irresponsible auto makers are aiding California’s radical agenda that will hurt every one of us.”

The Obama-era rules called for a fleetwide fuel efficiency average of 46.7 miles (75.2 km) per gallon (mpg) by 2026, compared with 37 mpg (60 kpg) under the Trump administration’s preferred option. The final regulation will modestly boost fuel efficiency over the preferred option’s freeze of 2020 requirements but be far less than the Obama rules, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Trump wants it all gone.  He's probably going to get his way, too. I expect automakers will want to dissolve the agreement rather than face years of guaranteed DoJ harassment wrecking their stock prices.  You can already see the line of attack from the Trumpies, that automakers are "colluding" with "California's radical agenda" to hurt consumers.  That may not play well in the Rust Belt where the automakers are, but it will in the plains and the South.

Yet another reason we have to take the White House back in 2020.