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The Trump administration is expected to propose a change to legislation that currently restrict carbon emissions and mandate the need for electric cars in the state of California, government officials have told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

California and a dozen other states have adopted the new rules in order to help protect the environment. In particular, California wants to get to five million zero-emissions vehicles in the state by 2030.

If the bill to freeze vehicle emissions requirements between 2020 to 2026 goes through, this would increase America's consumption of fuel by about 500,000 barrels of oil per day.

The draft proposal claims that this new legislation would prevent up to 1,000 highway deaths annually, if people are not being prodded to purchase new, safer cars.

Not needing to make sure that cars produce less carbon emissions would also bring down the cost of new cars, which also would apparently help to prevent the highway deaths, the draft proposal says.

If this goes ahead, there will likely be a large row, as 17 states have already warned that they will challenge the Trump administration if it tries to review US vehicle emissions rules.