In W.W. Jacobs’ 1902 short horror story The Monkey’s Paw, the cursed paw grants three wishes, but in unexpected and malign ways. For the US automotive industry, President Donald Trump has had a rather similar effect.

As soon as he was elected, carmakers started urging Mr Trump to rethink President Barack Obama’s planned vehicle fuel economy and emissions standards for 2022-25. Last week, the Trump administration set out its proposals for fulfilling that request: it intended to abandon the steady tightening of the standards envisaged by Mr Obama, and instead freeze them at their 2020 levels for the six years 2021-26.

Far from celebrating the success of its lobbying campaign, though, the US automotive industry gave the administration’s plans a distinctly tepid response, suggesting that the proposals should be just a starting point for further negotiations. Having egged on Mr Trump, the industry is now trying to rein him in.