Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has criticized the President Donald Trump administration for rolling back former President Joe Biden-era fuel economy standards as gas prices remain elevated amid the ongoing war with Iran.

Gavin Newsom Says Trump's Move Benefits Big Oil

In a post on X on Saturday, Newsom quoted a post by the New York Times, which said that the administration was planning to scale back fuel economy standards.

“Gas prices are at near-record highs and Trump’s response is to force you to get fewer miles out of every tank of gas,” Newsom said. The California Governor said that the move will “Make America Smoggy Again,” adding that the rule change was “Sponsored by Big Oil.”

In December 2025, the administration had proposed relaxing fuel economy standards. Trump has, on multiple occasions, pushed for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles over electric ones after he ended the $7,500 Federal EV Credit in September last year.

Notably, the Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also rescinded the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, which the agency had used as the legal prerequisite for regulating greenhouse-gas emissions from new motor vehicles.

Democrats Accuse Trump of Favoring Big Oil

On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, as well as the Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), published a report accusing Trump of rolling back regulations as well as probes into fossil fuel companies since taking office.

“At an April 2024 Mar-a-Lago fundraiser, then-candidate Trump asked oil and gas executives to pledge $1 billion in campaign donations to return Trump to power, in exchange for tax breaks and a massive deregulation effort,” the report said, touting “hundreds of millions of dollars” in donations to the campaign.

Oil, Gas Prices

As the war with Iran continues to escalate, gas prices in the U.S. have surged in the past weeks. Data from the American Automobile Association (AAA) showed that the national average price of gas fell slightly to $4.4768/gallon on Monday.

Meanwhile, diesel prices also declined to $6.45311/gallon on Monday. In California, the average price of gas was $6.3650/gallon, while diesel almost touched the $8.4/gallon mark at $8.3999/gallon in the state on Monday.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures contracts expiring in November rose 4.27% to $96.36 at press time. Brent futures contracts ending in November 2026 rose 3.50% to $100.85 at the time of writing this article.

Oil ETFs grew during pre-market trading on Monday, with the United States Oil Fund (NYSE: USO) ETF rising 4.50% to $155.07, while the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (NYSE: UCO) ETF also grew 4.43% to $54.26.