The agreement, coupled with increased fuel-efficiency requirements that Congress approved in 2007, will add $1,300 to the price of a new car in 2016, the administration estimated.
"You can continue to buy whatever cars you want," the official said. "All cars get cleaner."
Neither the Obama plan nor the rules California has sought to adopt explicit mileage requirements. But by capping the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for global warming, they would effectively require vehicles to achieve better mileage.
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, of California and others will join Obama for Tuesday's announcement.
In embracing a deal, the parties appear to have concluded that some kind of action on greenhouses gases was inevitable and that their separate interests were better served by compromising now than by delaying the process further.
For U.S. automakers, already adrift in a sea of financial troubles, being forced to meet California standards was essentially the same as having a national rule, since the state accounts for such a large share of vehicle sales and it was considered impractical to manufacture different cars and trucks for different market segments.
Dave McCurdy, president and chief executive officer of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said "What's significant about the announcement is it launches a new beginning, an era of cooperation."
"The debate over who sets CO2 and fuel-economy standards for autos has been decided, but there is still more to talk about," he added. "We have the broad outlines of an agreement," McCurdy said but the auto industry must still work out important details with the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal bodies, as well as with California officials.
Not everyone hailed the agreement.
"We think these new mandatory fuel standards are most unfortunate," said Myron Ebell, an energy expert with the pro-market Competitive Enterprise Institute. "They will price people out of larger vehicles and force them into smaller vehicles. Smaller cars may use less fuel, but they don't meet the needs of many people and studies show they are less safe." And at least one veteran of the Bush administration saw Obama's deal as a vindication of his predecessor.
"It looks like the Obama administration is agreeing with the Bush administration that there needs to be a national standard and that it doesn't make any sense to have multiple state standards," said Jeff Holmstead, a former senior EPA official.
