Overview

• President Donald Trump signed a resolution passed by Congress in May to block California’s plan to ban new gasoline-powered vehicles after 2035.
• The measure nullifies a 2022 state law championed by Governor Gavin Newsom that mandates all new cars sold in California be zero-emissions by 2035.
• California authorities led by Attorney General Rob Bonta filed suit in federal court arguing the resolution unlawfully revokes the state’s longstanding waiver to set stricter emissions standards.
• The action reflects Trump’s broader climate-skeptic agenda and his earlier reversal of the Biden administration’s goal for half of vehicle sales to be electric by 2030.
• Roughly a dozen other Democratic-led states have adopted similar zero-emissions mandates creating broader friction over state versus federal environmental authority.