Donald Trump allies outline his plans for Wall Street - and give clue on future of Biden's gas car ban

Another Trump presidency would see the winding back of 'burdensome regulations' on Wall Street introduced in the wake of the financial crisis, according to a new report.

If the former president were elected to reenter the White House, his administration would also be expected to ease EV mandates and clamp down on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments.

Those tend to see money going into issues aimed at helping tackle climate change and helping minority groups.

Although Trump has yet to announce staff or key policies, according to the report, published on Friday by Reuters, experts and his allies are preparing and pitching rewrites that would reduce the power of various regulators.

Trump cuts a red tape while speaking about deregulation at the White House in December 2017. Experts and those close to him say another presidency will see continued deregulation

Since assuming the Oval Office, President Biden himself has taken steps to unwind some of the regulatory changes made during Trump's term

Carmakers will eventually stop making full gas-powered successors to the beloved muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s (Pictured: Steve McQueen in Bullitt) - but Trump could change rules to keep gas cars in production longer

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign told Reuters that the Biden administration was responsible for a 'massive push to increase burdensome regulations, especially on our energy and auto industries.'

Since Biden took office, he has overseen the introduction of various regulations designed to catalyze the uptake of electric vehicles.

Notably, in March the Environmental Protection Agency introduced a rule that the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the US need to be electric or hybrids by 2032.

Other sources close to Trump said he was likely to target ESG - one described as somebody 'who regularly speaks with him on economic matters' said he would be 'sure' to 'go after all of this climate change stuff.'

In the final months of his presidency, Trump pushed to ban retirement plans from considering ESG when making investments.

Then in 2022, President Biden's administration reversed restrictions imposed under Trump - and the Labor Department announced a rule ordering government agencies to assess the impact of pension investments on the climate.

Michael Faulkender, a former Trump Treasury official, told Reuters that ESG is 'too much in the eye of the beholder' and that investors should be focused on returns - plain and simple.

'It can and has been used to deviate from the fiduciary duty that money managers have to their clients,' he said.

A source close to Trump has said if he makes it back into the White House he will be 'sure' to 'go after all of this climate change stuff'

At least eight states are planning to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in the next decade - and others are considering joining them

Another legacy of Trump's presidency was the winding down of certain Obama-era rules introduced as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in the wake of the financial crisis.

It imposed new liquidity requirements on financial institutions and mandated 'stress testing' on banks to ensure they could withstand economic uncertainty.

Faulkender has also objected to stress testing, arguing that if all institutions are made to pass the same tests they will all have the same vulnerabilities, which could cause problems all run into the same problem at the same time.

Another rule to come out of the Dodd-Frank Act was the Volcker Rule, which aimed to limit banks from engaging in proprietary trading - where they invest for their own gain as opposed to that of their clients. 

Critics argued the rule was complex and difficult to implement. They also claimed it created compliance problems for banks and could impact their viability to a critical degree.

After years of lobbying by investment banks like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, in 2019 regulators eased those restrictions.

Since then, Democrats - including Sen. Elizabeth Warren - have been pushing to reinstate some of those regulations. Many used the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last year as ammunition to make the case.

The fate of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may also be in the balance. The agency was created 12 years ago as a result of the Dodd-Frank Act

After years of lobbying by investment banks like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, in 2019 the Volcker Rule was amended. Pictured is JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon

'These threats never should have been allowed to materialize,' Warren told the Senate in March last year. 'Now, we must prevent them from occurring again by reversing the dangerous bank deregulation of the Trump era.'

Another important issue on the cards is the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) - an agency born out of the Dodd-Frank Act 12 years ago.

The CFPB is designed to protect consumers against financial institutions and the question of its existence has been politically fraught.

Robert Bowes, a former Trump appointee to the Department of Housing and Urban Development has called for its abolition.

He told Reuters he was 'very concerned about the disastrous bank regulation and economic policies by the Biden administration.'