President Trump is expected to announce Thursday that his administration is rolling back federal restrictions on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent greenhouse gases widely used in commercial refrigeration, in a move the White House says will lower costs for American families grappling with high food prices.
A White House official confirmed that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will issue a final rule granting grocery stores and other businesses additional time to comply with a phase-down of HFCs, reversing a more stringent Biden-era regulation. The announcement, first reported by USA Today, comes as U.S. food costs rose 0.6% in April from March and are up 3.2% year-over-year, according to recent data.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin framed the change as a direct response to consumer pain. In a written statement, Zeldin argued that the previous rules, enacted under the Biden administration, “piled on costly, unattainable restrictions beyond what the law requires.” He added, “Today, the Trump EPA is fulfilling President Trump’s promise to lower costs and is fixing every problem we can under the authority Congress gave us. This will be felt directly by American families in lower grocery prices.”
Trump is slated to appear alongside executives from major grocery chains including Kroger, Fareway, and Piggly Wiggly to tout the policy shift. The administration is also expected to propose changes to a separate rule aimed at reducing leaks of these chemicals from refrigeration systems.
Hydrofluorocarbons are a class of chemicals used in cooling applications such as refrigerators and air conditioners. They were introduced to replace ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons but are highly potent greenhouse gases—hundreds to thousands of times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Environmental advocates have long warned that unchecked HFC emissions could significantly accelerate climate change.
The Biden-era rule that Trump is now loosening followed bipartisan legislation signed into law by Trump himself in 2020, which mandated a gradual phase-down of HFCs. That law enjoyed broad support from both industry and environmental groups as a targeted approach to combating climate change without disrupting the economy.
Critics argue that the new EPA rule undermines that bipartisan compromise and could set back U.S. climate goals. However, the Trump administration maintains that the previous timeline was unrealistic and that delaying compliance will help stabilize grocery prices without causing major environmental harm.
The move is the latest in a series of Trump-era regulatory rollbacks aimed at lowering consumer costs, particularly in the energy and retail sectors. It also underscores the administration’s focus on pocketbook issues ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, as inflation remains a top concern for voters.
— Reporting contributed by The World Signal staff
