Newly-confirmed Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy is already moving to overturn the Biden-Harris administration’s stringent fuel economy standards for vehicles.
Shortly after Duffy was sworn in as transportation secretary on Tuesday, he signed a memorandum to begin the process of resetting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. As a result of regulatory costs, the CAFE standards have “diminished the strength of America’s auto industry” and “denied Americans the full range of affordable vehicles they need,” according to a DOT press release.
CAFE standards were first enacted by Congress in 1975 to regulate the fuel economy of vehicles. The NHTSA most recently strengthened the standards under former President Joe Biden in June 2024, requiring manufacturers to increase fuel economy by 2% each year for new passenger vehicles from 2027 to 2031 and for new light trucks from 2029 to 2031.
The updates to CAFE standards under Biden were widely criticized for potentially saddling carmakers with billions in compliance costs which would have resulted in higher prices for consumers.
The Biden-Harris administration led a push for Americans to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) as part of the former president’s signature green energy agenda, which also included stringent tailpipe emissions standards introduced in March 2024. Biden’s administration also shelled out billions to build a network of half a million EV chargers nationwide by 2030, but as of April 2024, just 38 were operational.
“I am deeply honored by the trust placed in me by President Trump to lead this important Department and for the Senate in swiftly confirming my nomination,” Duffy wrote in the press release. “We are already hard at work executing the President’s vision to usher in a golden age of transportation by taking immediate action to remove government overreach and lower costs for hardworking Americans. The memorandum signed today specifically reduces the burdensome and overly restrictive fuel standards that have needlessly driven up the cost of a car in order to push a radical Green New Deal agenda. The American people should not be forced to sacrifice choice and affordability when purchasing a new car.”
President Donald Trump has been an outspoken critic of Biden’s EV policies. Trump vowed to repeal Biden’s de facto electric vehicle mandate while on the campaign trail, calling the measures “insane.” Just hours after returning to office on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order that aims to unleash “America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources,” which he said will “restore American prosperity.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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