Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) took another swing at President Donald Trump on Tuesday, arguing that the administration's rollback of fuel economy standards is less about helping drivers and more about helping oil companies.

In a post on X, Newsom quoted a Reuters post noting that rolling back the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards will increase gas consumption and emissions.

The White House did not immediately respond to MarketDash's request for a comment.

"After forcing us to pay $120 BILLION more for fuel because of his idiotic war with Iran," Newsom said, "Donald Trump is now rolling back fuel standards so new cars get even fewer miles per gallon." He called the move a "massive wealth transfer" from ordinary Americans to oil companies.

Newsom had criticized the rollback before, saying it would increase emissions and pollution, and pointing to record-high gas prices since the war with Iran kicked off in February this year.

According to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average price of gas was down to $4.4558/gallon on Tuesday. California's average, meanwhile, jumped to $6.3803/gallon.

Sean Duffy Backs CAFE Rollback

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy backed Trump's fuel economy rollback, framing it as the end of an EV mandate in the auto sector put in place by former President Joe Biden and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Duffy also said the move would make cars cheaper by $1,300 and result in savings worth $138 billion over five years.

Earlier, economist Peter Schiff had lamented the cost disparity between prices of vehicles in the U.S. and prices of "high-quality" Chinese vehicles in countries like Panama. Schiff pointed out that the vehicles were over half the cost of their U.S. counterparts.