WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Thursday that the administration is rolling back Biden-era refrigerant regulations as part of a broader effort to reduce costs for consumers and businesses.
Administration officials said the changes are intended to lower grocery and energy costs by easing EPA rules affecting refrigeration systems used by grocery stores, restaurants, transportation companies and homeowners.
“Many Americans were expressing a lot of frustration and anger at this rushed, frantic, reckless sprint by the Biden administration to phase out reliable equipment for grocery stores, for restaurants and for homes,” Zeldin told reporters in the Oval Office. “Americans who wanted to be able to fix their equipment were instead being required to buy far more costly new equipment, and that just doesn’t make any sense.”
Trump said the administration’s reforms would save American families and businesses more than $2.4 billion annually.
“Today’s reforms will deliver significant financial relief,” Trump said. “The American people will have lower grocery prices, cheaper transportation of goods, lower costs of air conditioning.”
The Biden-era EPA rules required grocery stores, air conditioners and refrigeration systems to transition more quickly to climate-friendly refrigerants. Trump plans to extend deadlines for grocery stores and other companies to phase out climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbons, commonly known as HFCs.
HFCs are considered powerful “super pollutants” because they trap significantly more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Congress approved a bipartisan phasedown of the chemicals in 2020 under legislation signed by Trump during his first term.
Administration officials and grocery industry leaders argued the Biden-era rules would have forced some businesses to replace entire refrigeration systems at high cost. Trump repeatedly criticized the regulations Thursday, calling them “ridiculous, unnecessary and costly.”
The White House estimates the changes will generate $900 million in savings, including roughly $800 million tied to grocery costs. Officials also said the rollback would help protect approximately 350,000 supermarket-related jobs.
The EPA is also proposing changes to its 2024 emissions and refrigerant recovery rules that would exempt refrigerated trucks and other transport cooling systems from new hydrofluorocarbon leak requirements. The White House said the change could save businesses an additional $1.5 billion.
Several grocery executives joined Trump during the announcement, including representatives from Kroger and Piggly Wiggly stores, who argued the rules would have disproportionately hurt independent grocers and small-town supermarkets.
“An orderly transition of equipment reduces both capital costs and operating costs, and at the end of the day, that’s good for consumers because we’re able to take that and put that into lowering prices,” Kroger Chairman and CEO Greg Foran said.
Independent grocery operators warned the regulations could force some rural stores to close due to the cost of replacing refrigeration equipment, potentially creating “food deserts” in underserved communities.
The move comes as the Trump administration works to reduce costs for Americans amid renewed inflation concerns tied in part to rising oil prices during the war with Iran.
Wholesale inflation — the increase in prices paid by businesses — reached its highest level since 2022 last month. Consumer prices also rose at the fastest annual pace since spring 2023, increasing 3.8% from a year earlier.
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Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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