WASHINGTON — Addressing a key concern for manufacturers, President Donald Trump instructed his administration to explore negotiations with California on achieving a single fuel economy standard for the nation during a meeting with auto industry executives Friday.

The president met with top auto executives to discuss the standards and tasked Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt to handle the talks with California officials, according to two people briefed on the meeting.

The auto industry wants to relax the federal fuel economy standards, but not so much that they provoke a legal fight with California, which has power to impose its own stricter tailpipe pollution limits. Such a fight could create two different mileage standards in the U.S., forcing automakers to engineer and produce two versions of each of their vehicle models and driving up costs.

A Trump administration official said the two agencies have had meetings and discussions with California officials on the issue for several months.

Two auto industry trade groups confirmed in a statement that Trump was willing to talk with California, but they provided no specifics. The Alliance for Automotive Manufacturers and Global Automakers said they appreciated Trump’s “openness to a discussion with California on an expedited basis.”

During the meeting, one executive brought up how it would be better for the industry to have one standard instead of two, and Trump instructed Pruitt and Chao to go to California for talks.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president and the automakers discussed “how best to move forward” on the fuel economy standards.

The EPA under Trump has proposed freezing the standards at 2020 levels for the next five years, according to a draft of the proposal.