Unremarkably, the Trump administration is a) rolling back MPG and emissions standards for cars and trucks sold in the U.S., degrading both human health and our environment, while b) trying its damndest to make it impossible for the more progressive states, e.g., California, to maintain its own (tougher) standards. The fact that California and the feds are at an impasse could have been predicted for any of a dozen different reasons, one of which, of course, is that the two combatants are already locked in battle re: the border wall, where the Golden State is leading the charge to litigate against Trump’s use of emergency powers to build the border wall.
Here’s my colleague Jon LeSage, writing for Green Auto Market:
Talks breakdown between CA and feds: Officials from California and the federal government have reached a stalemate over fuel economy and vehicles emissions standards, three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Representatives from California Air 
Resources Board had been meeting in December with Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials to reach a compromise between the state and federal standards. The goal had been to reach agreement by late March or early April to modify the Obama administration’s corporate average fuel economy rules. Tensions between California and other states that follow California’s zero emission vehicle guidelines had been building. The conflict has been exacerbated during a time California has been leading a group of 16 states in a lawsuit to block Trump’s use of emergency powers to build the border wall. While federal representatives didn’t respond to requests for comments, the fuel economy and emissions stalemate was acknowledged by CARB. “The administration broke off communications before Christmas and never responded to our suggested areas of compromise — or offered any compromise proposal at all,” CARB spokesman Stanley Young said in an email. “We concluded at that point that they were never serious about negotiating, and their public comments about California since then seem to underscore that point.”
