Peter Navarro told Newsmax on Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to rescind the scientific endangerment finding that linked greenhouse gas emissions to public health and welfare is a "big deal" and central to dismantling federal climate regulations.
Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin formally repealed the 2009 EPA endangerment finding, the scientific determination that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane "endanger human health and welfare," which under the Clean Air Act had provided the legal basis for federal climate pollution rules.
The administration called it the "single largest deregulatory action in American history," eliminating emission standards for vehicles and engines that had been built on that finding and projecting more than $1.3 trillion in savings for Americans.
Navarro, White House senior adviser for trade and manufacturing, told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" that one need only look at Europe to find how important the repeal is for the U.S. economy.
"All you have to do is look at Europe to understand how extremism on this issue can really clamp down on an economy," Navarro said. "What's the difference between Europe and us?
"They've got as many people, they've got resources, they've got smart people there. They're just struggling, and they're struggling because of the kinds of extremism they have."
Navarro tied the repeal to broader Trump policy priorities, saying: "The four points of the Trump compass, one of the big ones is lowering the regulatory burden. And that includes what was done today.
"It's a big deal."
The endangerment finding had empowered the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases from motor vehicles, power plants, and other sources, shaping U.S. climate policy for more than a decade.
Its revocation nullifies key federal climate protections and curtails the agency's authority to enforce past and future emissions limits.
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