With the Reagan administration's departure from office, the ten-year period of triumphant auto industry power came to a close. As president, George Bush brought with him an administration that was not automatically resistant to using mild governmental mandates to protect public health and the environment. As a result, the industry's relations with government entered a new phase that continued with the Clinton administration. During this period, the automakers lost some of their ability to influence public policy compared to the previous decade, yet their influence was greater than during the earlier period of bargaining and compromise. By the end of Bush's first year in office, the ensuing shift in the dynamics of policymaking led Automotive News to select this new set of relations as its 1989 Story of the Year.

The Clinton administration's approach to the industry was much the same. Despite Clinton's 1992 campaign promise that he would become the real “environmental president,” the Democratic president did not push for any major environmental standards during his first term – where this analysis ends – and postponed consideration of any new policies that would have imposed stricter mandates on the automobile. Thus, Automotive News described the first Clinton term as having “no major regulatory or legislative initiatives that ran counter to industry interests.” The central automotive policy issues for the Bush years were the 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA), a government-supported battery research project, the failed congressional effort to increase fuel economy standards, the safety provisions of the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Act Efficiency, and a trade agreement with Japan to reduce the auto trade deficit between the two nations.