"AIAM members strongly support and are aggressively pursuing innovative ways to reduce CO2 emissions to protect the environment and lessen the nation's reliance on fossil fuels," Michael J. Stanton, AIAM CEO said in a statement.
"Building on the model developed in last year's historic agreement, today's commitment creates a path to greater future progress. We are able to advance our goal by providing manufacturers the lead-time to design and build the type of advanced technology vehicles needed while continuing to provide consumers with a full range of vehicle choices."
The framework for the mew standards will be created by the Department of Transportation (DoT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the following months. The regulations will need to apply to trucks built between 2014 and 2018. Starting from 2017, a new set of rules will apply for trucks built by 2025.
The goals of the new rules are the reduction of oil dependency in the US and the reduction of CO2 and other harmful emission. According to Obama, the new standards, which will be the equivalent of taking 50 million cars off the streets, will also create some 700,000 new jobs.
"I believe that it's possible in the next 20 years for vehicles to use half the fuel and produce half the pollution that they do today," Obama said in a speech, after announcing the new regulations.
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