California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a sharp rebuke of the White House’s climate agenda this week, arguing that federal environmental rollbacks under President Donald Trump are both economically damaging and historically out of step with bipartisan precedent. Casting the moment as urgent but temporary, Newsom said Trump’s approach represents a short-lived detour from an accelerating global clean energy transition.

Newsom’s remarks came a day after Trump announced he was rescinding the federal government’s “endangerment finding,” the scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. The move would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its legal basis to regulate carbon dioxide, methane and other climate-warming pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Standing beside EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Trump called the Obama-era rule “disastrous” and said he was “officially terminating” it — a sweeping reversal of decades of federal climate policy.

Trump Announces Termination of EPA’s “Endangerment Finding,” Calls It a Blow to Climate Bureaucracy

Declaring the Obama-era policy “disastrous,” Trump says ending the Endangerment Finding will free the auto industry from costly mandates and ease price pressures on consumers… pic.twitter.com/fQJHz6xmdq

— Washington Eye (@washington_EY) February 13, 2026

“I’m showing up. Donald Trump is doubling down on stupid,” Newsom said, accusing the president of attempting to “recreate the 19th century” by reopening coal plants and eliminating regulations. He tied those efforts to significant fossil fuel campaign contributions and warned that the U.S. risks ceding leadership in what he called “low-carbon green growth.”

Newsom pointed to California’s long-standing authority on emissions standards, dating back to 1967 when then-Gov. Ronald Reagan established the nation’s first tailpipe emissions rules and created the California Air Resources Board. Three years later, President Richard Nixon codified California’s special status under the Clean Air Act.

Positioning California as a counterweight to federal policy, Newsom said the state — which he described as the world’s fourth-largest economy if independent — ran on 100 percent clean energy nine out of ten days last year, with two-thirds from renewable sources. Since 2000, he said, the state’s GDP has grown 81 percent while greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 21 percent, and clean energy jobs now outnumber fossil fuel jobs seven to one.

I want to be clear: Donald Trump’s administration is temporary. California’s commitment is not.

He will be gone in three years. Our resolve to confront climate change is enduring and we remain a stable, reliable partner in that fight. pic.twitter.com/ki5ElmlxEs

— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) February 13, 2026

“Donald Trump is temporary. He’ll be gone in three years,” Newsom said. “California is a stable and reliable partner.” He stressed that the state’s climate goals are enshrined in law through 2045.

The remarks come as climate policy increasingly intersects with national politics ahead of the 2028 election cycle. On the prediction platform Polymarket, Newsom currently holds 18 percent odds, compared to 25 percent for Vice President JD Vance.

Rejecting the idea that climate change is a partisan issue, Newsom described it as an immediate economic and human reality. “You may not believe in science, but you have to believe your own eyes,” he said, citing droughts, floods and destructive wildfires, including those that devastated Greenville and Paradise, California. “This is personal, not political. Climate risk is financial risk. It’s becoming uninsurable. There’s no Republican thermometer or Democratic thermometer. There’s just reality.”

Newsom also highlighted California’s international partnerships and its role in fostering zero-emission vehicle manufacturing, noting that companies such as Tesla emerged within the state’s regulatory framework. He warned that federal rollbacks could undermine legacy U.S. automakers as global competition intensifies.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom:

Tesla exists for one reason: California's regulatory market. pic.twitter.com/EgK4qYYPye

— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 13, 2026

For Newsom, the message was consistent: administrations come and go, but economic and environmental trends endure. “Donald Trump is temporary,” he said. “California continues to move forward.”