WASHINGTON  — Addressing a key concern for manufacturers, President Donald Trump has 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.

The president met with top auto executives Friday 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 people spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions.

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.