Ford chief executive Mark Fields told Donald Trump during a meeting last week that up to 1 million U.S. jobs are at risk due to current fuel economy rules.
During a meeting at the White House alongside GM chief executive Mary Barra and FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne, Fields said that fuel economy targets need to be standardized across the United States and must align with consumer demand, Bloomberg reports.
Shortly after the meeting, Fields told the National Automobile Dealers Association convention that “We think having one national standard on fuel economy is really important.” He also said that jobs “could be at risk if we’re not given some level of flexibility on that — aligning it to market reality. So that really resonated.”
Although Ford and Donald Trump have had their fair share of disagreements in recent months, the American automaker has previously said that it wants fuel economy rules to be softened to better reflect market demand.
In early December, Fields asserted that the existing CAFÉ standards require automakers to build more EVs and hybrids than are being demand by customers.
Will Ford’s plea affect how Trump handles environmental issues? Watch this space.
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