California has defeated president Donald Trump's brazen attempt to roll back its strict fuel economy standard for cars meant to slash air pollution and prevent more carmakers from abiding by these rules.
Trump's Department of Justice (DoJ) has ended its fruitless fourth month-long antitrust investigation of automakers that formally entered a deal with California to reduce the amount of air pollution emitted by their motor vehicles. This unwarranted probe was one of a series of punitive Trump actions against Blue (or Democratic) States such as California and New York and their liberal policies.
A Ford Motor Company and a DoJ official familiar with the investigation told website Politico the probe had been dropped. At Trump's orders, the DoJ in September 2019 began investigating if the Ford, Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Company, Ltd and BMW or Bayerische Motoren Werke AG illegally coordinated when they agreed to follow California's stringent vehicle fuel-economy targets to combat air pollution and mitigate climate change.
The deal "enraged" Trump, who then ordered to probe the alleged anti-trust violation by the four car firms. Trump wanted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to rescind California's unique legal authority to craft air pollution rules stricter than the federal government's. Trump is a staunch climate change denier and doesn't believe man-made actions such as car air pollution are driving climate change.
The EPA's move to revoke California's authority was swiftly assailed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who vowed to fight the move in court.
"California won't ever wait for permission from Washington to protect the health and safety of children and families," said Newsom in September 2019. "We will fight this latest attempt and defend our clean car standards."
After a lengthy investigation, the DoJ ultimately concluded no laws were violated by the car companies. Newsom, an intransigent foe of Trump, was delighted by California's victory. Newsom had previously attacked the DoJ inquiry as politically motivated and part of a pattern in Trump's feud with California over environmental rules and other issues.
"These trumped up charges were always a sham -- a blatant attempt by the Trump administration to prevent more automakers from joining California and agreeing to stronger emissions standards," said Newsom in a statement over the weekend. "This is a big loss for the President and his weaponizing of federal agencies -- and a victory for anyone who cares about the rule of law and clean air."
In addition to the antitrust probe, Trump has also threatened to rescind California's highway funding, sued over California's cross-border climate pact with Quebec, Canada and accused San Francisco of letting homeless people's waste cause water pollution.
On the East Coast, the Department of Homeland Security last week barred New York residents from enrolling in federal programs that allow vetted travelers to pass quickly through airport lines, blaming a new state law granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.
