Deal agreed with automakers requires cars and light trucks to average 54.5mpg by 2025 in bid to wean the country off oil imports

Barack Obama's announcement of aggressive new targets on US fuel economy standards was welcomed today as a "historic agreement" by a leading thinktank.

Flanked by representatives of the automotive industry, the US president said: "This agreement on fuel standards represents the single most important step we've ever taken as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

"And just as cars will go further on a gallon of gas, our economy will go further on a barrel of oil."

The new corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards will increase from 2017 at 5% annually for cars and 3.5% for light trucks through 2021, with an overall target of a fleetwide average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Current standards were set at 35mpg by 2016 in 2008, when the auto industry was in a compliant mood after a $50bn government bailout.

Against a backdrop of a bitter partisan battle over raising the debt ceiling, the US president said that setting the new standard at an average of 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025 was an example of how compromise can work.

He said: "So as we look to close the deficit, this agreement is a reminder of why it's so important that we have a balanced approach. We've got to make serious spending cuts while still investing in our future; while still investing in education and research and technology like clean energy, which are so important for our economy."

Phyllis Cuttino, the Pew Environment Group's director of the clean energy programme, said: "This is a historic compromise. It will be the largest acceleration of fuel economy that we've had. Auto companies have said to themselves in good faith that we're really going to try to stretch. Given our history on fuel economy it's very impressive."

Cuttino said the standards were a serious step towards reducing greenhouse gases in transport, the fastest growing source of emissions in the US.

"In the absence of a comprehensive energy and climate policy you really have to take assertive action on smaller practical measures that you can take and implement now because if you're going to wait five or 10 years the curve to meet what science tells us to do becomes ever more steep."

She warned that potential loopholes would be watched closely, for example, efficiency for light trucks would not be required to accelerate at the same rate, and automakers would also be allowed to review progress on the standards in 2021.

BMW was one the first manufacturers to welcome the new standard. Its president of manufacturing, Josef Kerscher, said:

"Regulatory consistency is critical to synchronise product development with government rules. This way, companies have the time necessary to develop technologies that fulfill the requirements while remaining profitable and sustainable. The path from 2017 to 2021 is now clearly marked and we are ready for the challenge."

A report out today to coincide with the announcement from the Ceres, a group of sustainable business advocates, said that the 5% increase in fuel efficiency each year would create 603,000 new jobs nationally by 2030.