Hello, everybody. This is a big one if you're into environment. This is about as big as it gets, they tell me. And it's an honor to be here with a terrific person who's worked so hard on this, and some other terrific people. Thank you very much. But I'm pleased to be joined today by EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, who you all know and to announce the single largest deregulatory action in American history.
That's a big statement, in American history. And I think we can add the words, by far. Under the process just completed by the EPA, we are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers.
Prices went up incredibly for a worse product. This action will eliminate over $1.3 trillion of regulatory costs and help bring car prices tumbling down dramatically. You're going to get a better car, you're going to get a car that starts easier, a car that works better for a lot less money. In 2009, Barack Hussein Obama, his EPA designated fossil fuels such as oil, gas and other things that actually make factories rock and roll, and other things, drive very nicely, as a threat to health and human welfare, known as the endangerment finding.
This determination had no basis, in fact, had none whatsoever and it had no basis in law. On the contrary, over the generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty and all over the world. And you see it with the blackouts all over, where they don't use it, where they went to wind, intermittent wind, which is weak and ineffective and very, very costly, most costly energy there is. And people are dying because there was no air conditioning or there was no heating, lots of other things.
Bad things happened. And yet this radical rule became the legal foundation for the Green New Scam, one of the greatest scams in history, probably as great, maybe even greater than Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, etc., which the Obama and Biden administration used to destroy countless jobs and the jobs have been just decimated.
Although they're all coming back. Because of tariffs, they're all coming back into our country at levels we've never seen before. But it raised prices and caused immense harm to the US auto industry. We thought irreparable, but we've got them back. We're coming back now. I was in Detroit, as you know, with Ford, and they had one of the earliest plans from the early 1900s. And it was uh going to be closed down.
And then when I won, they said, let's keep it open for a little while, let's see what happens. And they just announced, as you know, they're going 24 hours around the clock with that same plant that was going to be closed because of what we've done. For example, under the endangerment finding, they forced the hated start stop feature onto American consumers, which unnecessarily shuts off a car's engine when you stop at a red light.
In other words, the engine goes off, that's great. The endangerment finding was also used to impose the massive and really very expensive electric vehicle mandate, expensive in the sense that nobody wanted it. Everybody was going to be forced to buy an electric car in a very short period of time, even though you can't power the car because we would have had to spend $5 trillion on power stations.
That's all dead, gone, over. These crippling restrictions were a major factor in driving up car prices to unprecedented levels and the car that you were getting was not nearly as good. In four years, under the Biden administration, the price of a new and used car rose more than 22 percent, all to facilitate the Green New Scam without achieving any meaningful impact on the environment but making the car worse.
That is why, effective immediately, we're repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional green emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond. This action will save American consumers trillions of dollars and will lower the average cost of a new vehicle by close to $3,000. Think of that.
During my campaign, I promised to cut 10 old regulations for every new regulation and we've exceeded that. We've instead done it -- 10 regulations, we were able to cut 129. So now we cut 129. So, think of that, I promised to cut ten old regulations for every new one, but we did more than 10, we did 129. It's something nobody can even believe it. So, we did a lot of regulation cutting in the first administration, a record, nobody even close to it. Now we're actually exceeding it in this administration.
The biggest one yet that we've done is happening right now, so perhaps no industry has benefited more from our historic deregulation campaign than the US auto industry. We canceled the EPA's absurd -- just totally absurd tailpipe emission standards, which was a disaster for automobile manufacturing. And revoked Biden's emissions waiver that would have allowed California to regulate automobiles for the entire nation.
And they're crazy out in California. They have nothing but trouble out there, as you know, that's why people are leaving in record numbers. I also ended Joe Biden's Extreme CAFE emission standards, saving the average American consumer much more than $1,000 when they buy a new car. But now we're talking about close to $3,000. These regulation cuts combined with our tax cuts and tariffs are the reason why the world's largest automakers have announced that they're going to be spending in excess of $100 billion in the United States in the next very short period of time, building new auto plants.
We're bringing our auto plants, assembly plants and factories roaring back to life, not even mentioning AI and all of the other things. We're building thousands of businesses in the United States. And if you remember, on my first day, they said if I could ever get the Dow up to 50,000 in my last year, in other words, in the fourth year, that it would be an unbelievable miracle.
But don't worry about it because it'll never happen, they said. And if I could get the S&P up to 7,000, they said in the fourth year, they said it will never happen. Let's not even talk about it. I have things, let's not even waste our time talking about it. Well, at the very end of my first year, the Dow hit 50,000, now it's over 50,000. And three days before that the S&P hit 7,000. So, we didn't have to wait till the end of the fourth year.
We just waited till the end of the first year. We've never had a country in a position like this and a lot of it's due to tariffs and a lot of it's due to the fact that we had a great election and a lot of good things have been done. One of the good things I did was put Lee Zeldin in charge of our environment.
So, I'm going to ask Lee to say a few words. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. President. This is a big deal. Under President Trump's leadership, today the Trump EPA has finalized the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America, referred to by some as the holy grail of federal regulatory overreach --the 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding is now eliminated.
This action will save American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion. What that means is lower prices, more choices and an end of heavy-handed climate policies. With today's announcement, American families will save over $2,400 for a new vehicle. 16 years ago, an ideological crusade within the Obama administration set off the most costly regulatory power grab our country has ever experienced.
The 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding led to trillions of dollars in regulations that strangled entire sectors of the United States economy, including the American auto industry. It claimed new powers over the vehicles we drive, even though the best reading of the Clean Air Act clearly states otherwise.
The Obama and Biden administrations used it to steamroll into existence a left-wing wish list of costly climate policies, electric vehicle mandates and other requirements that assaulted consumer choice and affordability. And who paid the biggest price? Hard working families, small businesses, millions of Americans who just want a reliable, affordable car to get to work, take their kids to school or go to church on Sunday.
The endangerment finding and the regulations that were based on it didn't just regulate emissions, it regulated and targeted the American dream. And now the endangerment finding is hereby eliminated, as well as all greenhouse gas emission standards that followed. The red tape has been cut. Manufacturers will no longer be burdened by measuring, compiling or reporting greenhouse gas emissions for vehicles and engines.
And the forced transition to electric vehicles is eliminated. No longer will automakers be pressured to shift their fleets towards electric vehicles, vehicles that are still sitting unsold on dealer lots all across America. And as a cherry on top, we are ending the federal government's push to get manufacturers to install that Obama switch, the almost universally despised start-stop feature.
There will be no more climate participation trophies awarded to manufacturers for making Americans' cars die at every red light and stop sign. It's over, done, finished. Under President Trump's leadership vehicle manufacturers can once again build what Americans want, not what politicians and bureaucrats in Washington demand.
President Trump campaigned on reviving the auto industry and he continues to deliver win after win after win, ending electric vehicle mandates, getting rid of the Biden CAFE standards with Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, and securing massive new US manufacturing investments and all the jobs that come with it. Affordable cars mean opportunity.
That means jobs, health care, education and mobility, especially for working families and rural Americans who rely on their vehicles every single day. And this isn't just about making the American economy boom; it's also about restoring the rule of law, a fundamental principle of our great republic. For years unelected bureaucrats twisted the Clean Air Act into something it was never meant to be. The Obama administration twisted itself into some kind of mental pretzel to invoke authority it didn't have and to sidestep Congress.
They claimed that six greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, some of which aren't even emitted from vehicles and trucks, contribute some amount above zero to global climate change, what they said, endangered public health. But their wild web of mental leaps isn't prescribed in federal statute. The Obama EPA's house of cards upended the best reading of the Clean Air Act, as well as 50 years of EPA precedent on what constitutes regulable air pollution.
In the 16 years that intervened, the Supreme Court has established clear precedent in Loper Bright Enterprises and West Virginia versus EPA. And in light of these Supreme Court decisions and other developments, upon his swearing in last year, President Trump immediately tasked on day one submitting requirements, recommendations, research on the legality and continued applicability of the 2009 endangerment finding.
And at Trump's speed, he wanted that research and recommendation turned around instantly. We looked at the Clean Air Act. We looked at what the highest court in the land had said and we used a very simple metric, if Congress didn't authorize it, EPA shouldn't be doing it. Congress never voted for these climate mandates inside of section 202 of the Clean Air Act.
If Congress wants EPA to regulate the heck out of greenhouse gases emitted from motor vehicles, then Congress can clearly make that the law, which they haven't done, for good reason.
Today, we dismantle the tactics and legal gymnastics used by the Obama and Biden administrations to backdoor their ideological agendas on the American people. Following the plain language of the law, we have now realigned EPA's rulemaking to reflect the Clean Air Act exactly as it is written and as Congress intended, not as others might wish it to be. Where our predecessors focused on trying to make and please a few fear-mongering climate alarmists, the Trump EPA is making decisions to benefit all Americans based on common sense and reality.
And the American people are tired of paying the price of political games. Last November, they voted for an administration that would listen to them. They told us that the price of a newer, safer vehicle was too high. They told us they didn't want cars that shut off at every red light. They told us dealers were sitting on lots filled with electric vehicles that nobody wanted or were buying.
The Trump EPA listened. We heard you and we acted. And today's action does not change regulations on traditional air pollutants and air toxics. This EPA is committed to providing clean air for all Americans. Powering the Great American Comeback is based on the singular focus of providing clean air, land and water for all Americans, while harnessing the greatness of the American economy.
That's a big difference from our predecessor. We believe that we can and must choose both. If you want an electric vehicle, buy one. If you want a diesel truck, then buy that. If you want a gas-powered vehicle or a hybrid, well more power to you. That's what freedom and choice look like. We're restoring the rule of law.
We're grounding policy in reality. We're giving power back to the American people. And we're bringing back the American dream stronger than ever before. EPA will never waver on its core mission of protecting human health and the environment and this administration knows we can do that while ushering in the golden age of America.
To recap, the 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding and all greenhouse gas emission standards on light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles that followed is eliminated. American families now will save over 2,400 vehicles -- $2,400 for a new vehicle. Today, the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States, over $1.3 trillion, the elimination of the endangerment finding is signed, sealed and delivered.
Thank you, Lee. That was long, but good. It was good. Maybe I should say great. It was great, and we appreciate it. Uh, would you have anything to say, Russ? Please.
Thank you, Mr. President. Literally no other president would have done this to get at the foundations of the Green New Deal, so tremendously excited that we are where we are today. Great work by Lee. I'm a little worried that this next year will be -- EPA alone will be de-reg east by the number of things that are going to come out of EPA.
So great work to the team.
$1.3 trillion in savings, massive historical opportunity. Thank you.
Thank you, Russ. Please. Would you like to speak? You're worthy of it. Good man.
Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, today is a historic day, led by President Trump's leadership. Uh, no other president, as Russ said, uh, would have undertaken this, um, and at the speed we did. It was a great team effort. Uh, this is the -- the -- the model of the Trump administration, everyone working together, mission aligned.
And Lee is also working on cleaning up the horrible situation with regard to farm equipment. Uh, you could use John Deere as an example, and other companies, uh, where tractors are unbelievably expensive and don't work as well because of all of the environmental nonsense that was put on them. Uh, also excavators, any -- any equipment like that, bulldozers, uh, caterpillar.
Tractor would be a beneficiary, I guess, but the people are going to be a beneficiary because the equipment is going to be a lot less expensive and it's going to also -- most importantly, it's going to work much better, much better. So we're working on that immediately, as we speak. And we'll probably make it so that any of that equipment built in the United States will not have to go through this.
If it's built outside, I think we'll probably leave the standard the same. If people are going to send us equipment, let them have that standard for whatever it's worth, which is not much. And I think that's a very big announcement too. And we're going to see if we can get that done very quickly, so that all of that equipment that we have made, including lawn mowers, etc., you won't have to go to the finest schools in the world in order to figure out how to operate it. Right?
So any questions, please?
President Trump? Thank you for this. And after this much supported roll -- move to roll back the EPA's endangerment finding. What additional steps do you plan on taking to scale back what many are calling climate industry scams, specifically? And Secretary Zeldin knows about these wind turbines they're trying to bring to New York, judges allowing them to be rebuilt right near your hometown in Jamaica, Queens.
That's too bad.
They're being called a national security threat for air traffic coming into the airport. What could you do to make sure these things don't destroy the environment?
We're trying to make sure it doesn't happen and we've basically stopped all windmills in this country. It's the most expensive energy you can get. They're all made in China, a little bit in Germany, but mostly in China. And we're putting them all over our fields and ruining the fields and killing the birds and all of this.
And the environmentalists say they like them, but they really are a tremendous eyesore. They ruin -- Europe has gone, as you know, it's gone to -- Europe isn't even recognizable anymore, between immigration and because of, you know, environmental things like the windmills which are taking over. The people hate them.
The energy is by far the most expensive and we're fighting very hard to make sure that they don't get built. I hope we don't have one built during my administration. We inherited some contracts where they've gone down the line a little bit. We're trying to terminate them, for a lot of different reasons. One of the reasons is you had mentioned, its endangerment for the military, it's also endangerment for airliners.
So we're trying to take care of those situations now. They should have never been allowed in the first place. Yeah, please.
Mr. President, thank you so much for taking the questions.
Sure.
What do you tell Americans who are concerned that the $1.3 trillion in savings does come at a cost to public health and the environment based on science?
Yeah. I tell them, don't worry about it because it has nothing to do with public health. This is all a scam, a giant scam. This was a rip off of the country by Obama and Biden. And let's say Obama started it and got it rolling, and a terrible rip off. They'll have more money to spend for health care, if you look at it. Now they can go out and spend it on something that's meaningful and nobody's doing more for health care than the Republican party.
And that starts with the fact that prescription drugs are going to be coming down at numbers that nobody's ever seen before. They're falling. You know, we were paying the highest prices in the world, by far, sometimes by 10 times more than other countries. Now we're going to be paying whatever the lowest price is anywhere in the world.
We're going to be paying that. It's called favored nations, Most Favored Nations. And I think it's the biggest thing to happen in this world, the world of medicine, prescription drugs ever. There's never been anything like it. You know, if like in my third year, first term, I actually got prices down one quarter or one eighth of a percent.
And I was so proud of myself because they were like that for years and years. And since under Biden, they went up very, very substantially. And now they're coming down by, depending on, you could say 500, 600, 700 percent depending on the way you want to -- or you could say 80 percent, it doesn't matter.
They're coming down by numbers that nobody ever thought possible. I got it all done and I got it all approved and all of the countries all over the world are going to pay more and they've agreed to pay more because of tariffs. I said, if you don't do it, we're going to have to tariff you. And they've all agreed to do it, otherwise they would have never done it. That was why no president has ever been able to get it done.
Please.
Yeah, Mr. President, you took more than 600 deregulatory actions in your first year here. Coming from the business world, you know how unnecessary red tape can hinder business expansion, investment expansion. Given the magnitude of this announcement here today and the deregulatory action you took in the first year, how much economic growth can we expect to see as a return [Inaudible]
It's a great question. I think that it'll be enormous. Who knows, really, what the number is? But I can tell you, in terms of economic growth, we have $18 trillion being invested in this country right now, the most ever of any country by far, not even close. Think of it, no matter where, not just here. $18 trillion is coming in and that money is being spent right now as we speak and new plants and equipment.
And you may have heard Lee mention, I mentioned also, that over $100 billion is going to be spent in this very short period of time just by foreign auto companies on building auto plants in the United States. I'm the greatest thing that ever happened to the United Auto Workers. You know, the head man has not been nice to me, but now I understand he's saying this is the greatest auto president in history.
But the auto workers gave me their vote, and they knew what I was doing, and they knew what needed to be done. The tariffs saved them, but this is now taking it to a level, I think, Lee, that nobody ever thought even possible. They thought this was -- nobody would have the courage to do it. We have to have the courage to do it because we're making America great again.
This is a big factor in making our country great. If you look at some of these cars, they didn't even work. They had computers all over the place trying to save a half an ounce of fuel. We have fuel for the next 500 to 1,000 years under our feet and they're trying like hell to save a half an ounce of fuel.
The whole thing is just crazy. Please. Go ahead, please.
Mr. President, is climate cooperation with China no longer in America's interest? And could you please confirm that you are going to visit China the first week of April?
Yeah, I'll be visiting President Xi in April. I look forward to it. He's coming here later in the year, and I look very much forward to it. No, our relationship with China is very good right now. And this is, you know, not relevant to much having to do with China, what we're announcing today, but my relationship with President Xi is very good.
Yes.
Mr. President, following your meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday, has your thinking changed at all as it relates to these negotiations with Iran?
[Crosstalk]
Timeline with Iran?
We have to make a deal otherwise it's going to be very traumatic, very traumatic. I don't want that to happen, but we have to make a deal. They should have made a deal the first time and they got Midnight Hammer instead, and this will be very traumatic for Iran if they don't make a deal. Look, if they don't make a deal, then uh it'll be a different story.
But we had a very good meeting yesterday with Bibi Netanyahu and he understands, but it's ultimately up to me. If the deal isn't a very fair deal and a very good deal with Iran, then it's going to be, I think, a very difficult time for them. In the back.
Timeline for them, sir?
I guess over the next month, something like that, yeah -- shouldn't take, I mean, it should happen quickly. They should agree very quickly. Yeah.
Mr. President, we might be heading into a partial government shutdown. When was the last time you spoke with Chuck Schumer? And do you still feel Democrats are negotiating in good faith?
Well, a week ago I spoke, but we have to protect our law enforcement. Actually, the Supreme Court gave a ruling -- or one of the courts gave a very big ruling on masks -- that you have the right to use them for personal protection if you want. So, I don't know how that interjects. They want our law enforcement to be totally vulnerable and put them in a lot of danger.
They have some things that are really very hard to -- very, very hard to approve, frankly. As you know it only -- we had various of the other bills. That's all done. But we're left with this one. We have to protect our law enforcement. Very important. Please.
Why does Prime Minister Netanyahu want you to stop negotiating with Iran?
You're saying stop entertaining, stop talking to them -- didn't say that we didn't discuss that. I'll talk to them as long as I like and we'll see if we can get a deal with them. And if we can't, we'll have to go to phase two. Phase two will be very tough for them. I'm not looking for that.
Mr. President, there are currently zero Israeli hostages left in Gaza because of you. Thank you for that.
Thank you. Thank you.
Now that the war is ending in Gaza and Israel, I wanted to ask, do you believe Bibi bears any responsibility for the security failures that we saw on in October 7th?
Well, October 7th was a rough time, and I guess everybody's responsible I would say, you know, look. But it was a terrible attack. It was a sneak attack. It was as violent as -- unfortunately, I've seen some of the results at levels that probably even you, a good reporter, but probably you haven't seen, it was a horrible thing that took place.
People were surprised. It was a surprise attack. Nobody saw that coming. He didn't see it coming. Nobody else would have seen it coming if they were in his position, I don't believe. But I can tell you he's been a very good wartime prime minister. He's been very strong. We've worked with him very well. We had tremendous success with Iran and everything else we've done.
And he really has been -- he's been extraordinary as far as a wartime prime minister, not easy. And you have a president that refuses to give him a pardon. I think that man should be ashamed of himself -- a pardon over this trial that's going on, president of Israel. The primary power he's got is the power to give pardons.
And he's not -- he said he's given it five different times, but he doesn't want to do it because I guess he loses his power. I think the people of Israel should really shame him, he's disgraceful for not giving it, he should give it. But Bibi has been a great wartime prime minister, and I've been the best friend to Israel, I think, that they've ever had.
A lot of people say beyond presidents that they've ever had, and we will continue to be. Yes, ma'am.
On the SAVE Act, Mr. President, voter ID polls very well nationally. Even the majority of Democrat voters want it. So, why do you think Senate Democrats are resisting the SAVE Act? And what is your strategy and realistic pathway to getting the SAVE Act passed to ensure free and fair elections for the next generations?
It's such a great question, I appreciate it actually because it's called the SAVE America Act; we've changed the name. It's the SAVE America Act and the Democrats are against it. I heard one of them say we will stop the SAVE America Act. No, we're trying to save America, and it has to do with, largely, voting.
And basically, it's got three very simple points. It's got voter ID, photo ID, but voter ID with a photo, right? It's got the confirmation of US citizenship; you have to be a citizen. So, you have a vote, you have an ID. That's about a 99 percent one. And I think 90 percent with Democrats. Then you have confirmation US citizenship.
That's about a 99 percent one with Republicans, about 86 percent with Democrats, except Democrat politicians because they cheat on elections. And then you have no mail-in ballots, and there would be no mail-in ballots. Very important. You know, we're the only country in the world that does a system like we do. We're the only country in the world that has mail-in ballots.
The way we do this is unbelievable. It guarantees cheating. So, it's no mail-in ballots with the exception of disability, illness, military, or if you're traveling, you can get an exemption. If you happen to be out of the country for a good reason, you can have an exemption. So, with the exceptions, it's no mail in ballots.
And that will assure the security of our crooked elections. We have crooked elections. Yeah.
Mr. President, have you fired or disciplined that staffer who posted the video from your account that included the Obamas?
No, I haven't. That was a video on, as you know, voter fraud and a fairly long video. They had a little piece and had to do with The Lion King. It's been very well -- it's been shown all over the place, long before that was posted. But that was a very strong -- and I'm sure you saw it, a very strong piece on voter fraud.
And the piece that you're talking about was all over the place many times, I believe for years. Yeah, please.
Mr. President, are you aware that Secretary of Commerce visited Epstein's island? And do you continue to --
No, I wasn't aware of it. No, I didn't. I actually haven't spoken to him about it. I wasn't. But from what I hear he was there with his wife and children, and I guess in some cases some people were. I wasn't -- I was never there. Somebody will someday say that I was never there. Yeah, please.
This announcement that you made today, Mr. President, comes on the heels of a January jobs report that smashed expectations.
Yeah, smashed all records.
A big feature of that was you reprioritizing the economy, an economy that was bloated with federal employment under the previous president. What's your message to Americans following this jobs report that smashed industry expectations? Is this just a sign that the best is yet to come?
Thank you. The jobs report is amazing in certain ways because we have tremendously fewer federal employees, way down. Now, I could have left them and added to what we did and we would have had almost 100 percent employment. I could have gotten a great kick out of the fact that we're 100 percent employed.
But we got rid of tremendous numbers of federal workers, and they hated me for it. Now they love me because most of them have gotten jobs in the private sector for two and three times more money than they were being paid by the federal government. We had some jobs where you had 10 workers for one job. 10 workers for a job that one person should be doing.
And we've gotten rid of a lot of those jobs. And by getting rid of them, these people became available to work in the private sector and, as you know, the numbers are incredible. So, the job numbers are incredible. The financial numbers are beyond belief. Again, they thought it couldn't be done in four years, and I did it in one year.
And the numbers you're going to see are these -- I don't know if you noticed also construction numbers, the jobs for construction workers. You know why? Because they're building plants all over the United States. That's why. And when these plants open in a year from now. Some sooner, some a little bit later.
But when these auto plants, AI plants and thousands of other types of plants, when they open over the next period of a year, a year and a half, you're going to see numbers like we've never seen before in this country. Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Let's go.