Over the last three years, car and truck manufacturers have collectively engaged in a campaign to weaken or repeal most environmental regulations governing their vehicles in the US. Under the second Trump administration, this advocacy has become increasingly negative, and the industry’s demands are finally being met—and in some cases exceeded—as the government attempts to eliminate most US climate regulation. This deregulatory project may have implications beyond the US, triggering a “domino effect” throughout North America and beyond, as neighboring countries that reference US vehicle regulations in their own policies and have deep trade relationships with the US are pressured to follow suit. In Canada, recent policy setbacks suggest this risk is already becoming reality, while InfluenceMap analysis of industry engagement patterns suggests Mexico may be at risk.
Between the US, Mexico, and Canada, there is a long record of efforts to harmonize environmental regulations, generally aligning on US standards. In addition to efforts to harmonize trade through agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Canada and Mexico have historically used US emissions standards for vehicles as references in their own standards. Canada’s current GHG standards through 2025 are aligned with existing US ones, and in 2020, when the first Trump administration weakened standards in the US, Canadian standards that incorporated US rules by reference were automatically weakened as well. In October 2025, the CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association (CVMA) stated that “there has been a recognition by successive governments that you have to align your policy framework to the United States because 90% of what we're exporting is going into the U.S. market.” Mexico faces similar pressure as the largest importer of cars into the US. The NOM-163 GHG emissions standard in Mexico, though currently weaker than US standards, states that US fuel economy and GHG standards were used as a reference. Considering these links, recent vehicle manufacturer lobbying to weaken or dismantle US zero-emissions sales requirements and emissions standards for motor vehicles will likely impact the interconnected North American network of environmental regulation and trade.
In June 2025, the Trump administration revoked states’ authority to enforce US ZEV sales requirements—the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) and Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulations—effectively repealing the regulations. Although this decision is currently being contested in court, it was a win for the vehicle manufacturers that strongly opposed the regulations.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (The Alliance), an industry association representing almost all major automobile manufacturers (Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota, among others), pushed the federal government to revoke the Advanced Clean Cars II rule in an April 2025 letter to Congress.
In March 2025, the Alliance, General Motors, Stellantis, and Toyota endorsed a bill that would revoke ACC II and ACT, as well as weaken a suite of other road transport regulations.
In May 2025, the Alliance’s CEO John Bozzella applauded the US Senate after it passed the law to repeal the rules in May 2025.
Earlier in 2025, General Motors and Toyota both launched campaigns asking their employees to lobby the federal government to repeal the ACC II rule.
Echoing the repeal of ACC II in the US, in September 2025, the Canadian government announced the pause and review of its equivalent policy, the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard (EVAS), following industry pressure from many of the same manufacturers that opposed the US rules (InfluenceMap is tracking the engagement on the EVAS here. EVAS references California’s now-repealed ACC II regulation and sets the same target): 100% ZEV sales for cars and light trucks by 2035.
The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, which represents Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, recently advocated for Canada to repeal the EVAS, emphasizing the issue of integration with the US market, in October 2025 testimony on the review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
In a May 2025 joint letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Stellantis, and Toyota advocated to urgently repeal the EVAS.
Although Mexico does not currently have an equivalent policy, it announced in its NDC 3.0 report plans to develop a National Electric Mobility Strategy. These patterns of industry influence suggest Mexico’s National Electric Mobility Strategy will likely face similar pressure from industry as it is developed, in addition to pressure to align regulations with its trading partners to the north.
In the last few years, many auto and truck manufacturers and their industry associations have advocated to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s GHG emissions and fuel economy standards in the US. EPA’s emissions standards differ from the ZEV sales requirements by requiring manufacturer’s new vehicles to emit less CO2 each year. Under the Biden administration, the industry’s advocacy mainly focused on weakening the rules’ overall stringency and keeping credit programs that ease compliance, which the administration met with a modest weakening of proposed GHG standards for both light- and medium-duty vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles. Some manufacturers vocalized support for the Biden-era standards: Ford largely supported the proposal for light-duty vehicles with modest adjustments, while Tesla advocated to make the rule even more stringent.
Since Trump’s re-election, however, there has been a significant increase in negative advocacy as manufacturers aim for bigger cuts to regulations.
Advocacy under Trump Administration (2024–2025)
In March 2025, General Motors, Stellantis, and Toyota endorsed the Transportation Freedom Act, which would repeal all existing GHG emissions standards and replace them with weaker ones.
Daimler Truck advocated to repeal Biden-era GHG emissions standards in an August 2025 testimony.
The Alliance advocated for the EPA to replace Biden-era GHG standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles with weaker ones in an August 2025 testimony.
The Transport Project, which represents Amazon, Chevron, Cummins, Volvo Group, Shell, requested that EPA rescind the existing heavy-duty GHG emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles in a March 2025 press release.
The second Trump administration is much more eager to roll back environmental regulations than any prior administration, including the first Trump administration. In August 2025, the EPA proposed fully repealing the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the legal basis for all US emissions regulation. This would end the regulation of all greenhouse gas emissions for cars, trucks, planes, and power plants and make it difficult for a future administration to reinstate regulation.
However, vehicle manufacturers and industry associations that once emphatically advocated to weaken regulations have been less clear in their response to the Trump administration’s latest plan. This suggests potential industry concern with the impacts of abruptly removing regulations into which it has already invested billions.
The EMA and Alliance for Automotive Innovation advocated to roll back heavy-duty and light and medium-duty standards, respectively, but their comments avoided endorsing a full repeal of all GHG emissions regulations.
Honda and Ford opposed the repeal of the Endangerment Finding, instead advocating to replace existing GHG emissions standards with weaker ones.
Some manufacturers, including Toyota and Stellantis, strongly opposed existing US GHG emissions standards for vehicles without taking a clear position on the repeal of the Endangerment Finding.
Daimler Truck appeared to agree with the EPA’s proposal to remove the regulation entirely.
Tesla stood out by clearly opposing the repeal of the Endangerment Finding and rollback of GHG emissions standards.
The full impact of repealing US environmental regulations for automakers in Canada and Mexico is not yet clear. However, recent developments suggest that industry-backed rollbacks in the US may complicate the process for Mexico and Canada to create and enforce regulations to decarbonize road transport, especially as Mexico develops new regulations for the transportation sector.
In Canada, industry has stated general support for aligning with weakened US regulations:
On its own website, the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, which represents Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, advocates for Canada to align its emissions standards with the US and urges the government to weaken its federal ZEV standard for light-duty vehicles, which replaced its GHG emissions standards.
On its website, the Canadian Trucking Alliance, which represents Cummins and Daimler, as well as subsidiaries of Volkswagen, PACCAR, and Volvo Group, urges Canada’s government to “harmonize its GHG regulations with those of the United States.” In direct response to the proposed repeal of the Endangerment Finding, the association stated that it “continues to caution Ottawa on the perils of taking a diverging regulatory path from the U.S. when it comes to environmental mandates and GHG regulations” and also claimed that both future and existing regulations are too stringent. InfluenceMap is currently in the process of assessing the Canadian Trucking Alliance’s wider advocacy.
Mexico’s current emissions standard for cars, NOM-163, though less stringent than US standards, states that US fuel economy and GHG standards were used as a reference. Notably, Mexico is the largest importer of cars to the US. With the removal of US emissions standards, Mexico may have less incentive to develop stronger emissions standards that would have previously streamlined trade with one of its largest trade markets. Echoing this, in response to the proposed Endangerment Finding repeal, Honda noted that weaker environmental regulation in the US “diminishes the business case for investing in expensive long-term R&D for fuel-efficient technologies” that have spillover benefits across the industry. If the Trump administration repeals the endangerment finding, it risks wasting years of sunk investment into more efficient vehicles and reversing critical climate progress across the continent.