Going forward, California’s state agencies will chiefly purchase cars from Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW. Also on Friday, California filed its second lawsuit against the Trump administration over its revocation of the state’s legal authority to set tougher pollution standards. California’s pact with Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW embarrassed the Trump administration, which assailed the move as a stunt. The Justice Department subsequently opened an antitrust inquiry into the four automakers on the grounds that their agreement with California could potentially limit consumer choice. Since the opening days of his administration, Mr. Trump has been boasting that his rollback of vehicle pollution rules would help both automakers and car buyers.

Source: New York Times November 18, 2019 23:15 UTC