President Donald Trump holds up a signed bill blocking California’s rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035 in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed a resolution on Thursday that blocks California’s first-in-the-nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The move is expected to become the state’s latest legal challenge with the federal government.
The resolution was approved by Congress last month and aims to quash the country’s most aggressive attempt to phase out gas-powered cars. Trump also signed measures to overturn state policies curbing tailpipe emissions in certain vehicles and smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks.
Trump called California’s regulations “crazy” at a White House ceremony where he signed the resolutions.
“It’s been a disaster for this country,” he said.
It comes as the Republican president is mired in a clash with California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, over Trump’s move to deploy troops to Los Angeles in response to immigration protests. It’s the latest in an ongoing battle between the Trump administration and heavily Democratic California over issues including tariffs, the rights of LGBTQ+ youth and funding for electric vehicle chargers.
In his remarks at the White House, Trump expressed doubts about the performance and reliability of electric vehicles, though he had some notably positive comments about the company owned by Elon Musk, despite their fractured relationship.
“I like Tesla,” Trump said.
In remarks that often meandered away from the subject at hand, Trump used the East Room ceremony to also muse on windmills, which he claimed “are killing our country,” the prospect of getting electrocuted by an electric-powered boat if it sank and whether he’d risk a shark attack by jumping as the boat went down.
