Trump signs bill blocking California gas car ban plan

Driving the news: "It's been a disaster for this country," Trump said as he signed the measure.

• "We officially rescue the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating the California electric vehicle mandate once and for all."
• Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday the state and 10 others will sue the Trump administration for what they called his "illegal resolutions targeting" California's clean vehicles program.
• "Trump's all-out assault on California continues — and this time he's destroying our clean air and America's global competitiveness in the process," Newsom said in a statement. "We are suing to stop this latest illegal action by a President who is a wholly-owned subsidiary of big polluters."

The big picture: California has the largest car market, and roughly a dozen other states follow its rules under the Clean Air Act.

• Bonta has already announced a lawsuit with 10 other state attorneys general after the Republican-led Senate approved a resolution last month to revoke a waiver allowing California to set its own air quality standards.

Between the lines: What Trump signed are revocations of EPA waivers that enable the California EV rule (and separate rules on trucks and nitrogen oxide).

💭 Thought bubble, via Axios' Joann Muller: States can follow California or stick with the EPA. Eleven states decided to follow these latest rules but at least one (Vermont) announced it wouldn't enforce it because there was no way they could deliver.

Go deeper: Read more in Friday's Axios Generate newsletter