WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Trump administration on Thursday that require grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment, a step President Donald Trump said would help lower grocery costs.
Trump, at a White House ceremony, said the action by the Environmental Protection Agency would 鈥渟ubstantially lower costs for consumers鈥� by delaying costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants U.S. businesses and families can use.
The move to on harmful pollutants known as HFCs emitted by refrigerators and other appliances was the latest attempt by the Trump administration to try to address rising voter concerns over the cost of living ahead of pivotal elections in November.
It is not clear how much or how quickly the loosening of the refrigerant rule might impact grocery prices. Industry groups said the move could even raise prices because manufacturers have already redesigned products, retooled factories and trained workers to build and service next-generation refrigerant equipment.
Inflation in the United States in April, amid price spikes caused by the and President Donald Trump鈥檚 . Inflation is now outpacing wage gains as the war has kept oil and gasoline prices high.
The Biden-era regulation was 鈥渦nnecessary and costly and actually makes the machinery worse,鈥� Trump said at a ceremony joined by top executives from Kroger, Piggly Wiggly and other grocery chains. The EPA action will protect hundreds of thousands of jobs and save Americans more than $2 billion a year, he said.
The Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, which represents more than 330 HVAC manufacturers and commercial refrigeration companies, said the change in approach would 鈥渋nject uncertainty across the market鈥� and could even raise prices.
鈥淭his rule works against basic supply and demand,鈥� said Stephen Yurek, the group鈥檚 president and CEO. 鈥淏y extending the compliance deadline鈥� for phasing out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, the administration 鈥渋s maintaining and even increasing demand in the market for existing refrigerants while supply continues to fall.鈥�
Manufacturers have already retooled product lines and certified models based on the existing timeline, Yurek said. Nearly 90% of residential and light commercial air conditioning systems use substitute refrigerants, rather than HFCs, he said.
Trump once supported limits on refrigerant pollutant
The administration’s action on refrigerants represents a reversal after Trump signed a law in his first term that and air conditioners. That bipartisan measure brought environmentalists and major business groups into rare alignment on the contentious issue of climate change and won praise across the political spectrum.
The 2020 law reflected a broad bipartisan consensus on the need to quickly phase out domestic use of HFCs, greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide and are considered a major driver of global warming.
The EPA action highlights the second Trump administration鈥檚 drive to The plan is among a series of sweeping environmental changes that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said will put a 鈥渄agger through the heart of climate change religion.鈥�
Environmentalists criticized the administration鈥檚 actions, saying the new rule would exacerbate climate pollution while disrupting a yearslong industry transition to new coolants as an alternative to HFCs.
The law pushed industry toward less harmful alternatives
The 2020 law signed by Trump, known as , phased out HFCs as part of an on ozone pollution. The law accelerated an industry shift to alternative refrigerants that use less harmful chemicals and are widely available.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Chemistry Council, the top lobbying group for the chemical industry, were among numerous business groups that supported the law and an international deal on pollutants, , as victories for jobs and the environment. U.S. companies such as Chemours and Honeywell developed and produce the alternative refrigerants sold in the United States and around the world.
The 2023 rule now being relaxed . Zeldin said the rule from the Democratic Biden administration did not give companies enough time to comply and that the rapid switch to other refrigerants caused shortages and price increases last year. Some in the industry dispute this.
The Food Industry Association, which represents grocery stores and suppliers, applauded the Trump EPA proposal last year, saying the earlier rule 鈥渋mposed significant and unrealistic compliance timelines.鈥�
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