Sean Duffy took the reins at the U.S. Department of Transportation late Tuesday. His first action? To begin the process of scrapping the Biden administration’s fuel economy standards for new automobiles.
The Biden standards sought in part to push the auto industry to make less environmentally damaging vehicles — opposition to which has become a right-wing shibboleth. In a statement, Duffy said the standards “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,” Duffy said — conveniently ignoring the costs of gas to keep those cars running.
Of course, as Streetsblog USA Editor Kea Wilson pointed out on X, it’s not just the costs of cars hitting Americans’ pocketbooks. but the broader costs of car dependency.
Many Americans have no choice but to drive, thanks to more than a century of short-sighted investments in highways and roads that make it impossible to get around any other way — a policy that Duffy will only bolster. “Cleaner” cars alone will do nothing to make transportation more cost-efficient.
Unscathed so far by the Trump-Duffy DOT are crucial Biden policies like the FHWA’s backing of congestion pricing and the revamp of road design standards that prevent sensible pedestrian and bike-friendly street redesigns for years. And Trump’s abrupt, alleged reversal of his bone-headed federal spending freeze leaves U.S. DOT grants unscathed (for now).
This is no way to run a government — but you knew that.
Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards date back to the 1970s, when federal policymakers sought to relieve the pain American drivers felt at the pump during that decade’s energy crisis.
The standards have toggled up and down in recent years depending on which party controls the White House, with the Obama and Biden administration raising mandatory miles-per-gallon mandates while the first Trump administration lowered them.
Under President Biden, the feds required carmakers to hit an average of 38 miles per gallon by 2031 — compared to the 2024 mandate of 29 mpg. Those standards aimed in part to push companies to make more electric vehicles, by allowing EVs to count towards each company’s average fuel efficiency.
The Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” touted gas-powered vehicles as “instrumental to advancing the mobility and prosperity of the American people.” Upon taking office, Trump declared total war on policies aimed to reduce dependence on pollution-generating fossil fuels.
Duffy cited that new prerogative in his Jan. 28 internal memo instructing DOT officials to begin the process of reversing the Biden administration regulations. Critics say, though, that the result will be slightly cheaper cars but higher gas costs.
“Making cars less fuel efficient was a key demand of oil executives, and this administration is delivering for them,” said Kathy Harris, director for clean vehicles at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “For the rest of us, this is a harsh blow when we can afford it least.”
But the focus on the cost of driving is not so different from the Biden administration, whose more EV-friendly policies sought to lower fuel costs without greatly expanding access to alternative ways to get around, according to Beth Osborne, the director of Transportation for America.
“[The Biden administration] passed [stronger] CAFE standards so that in 10 to 20 years, you’ll have more efficient vehicles to drive absolutely everywhere, with the cost of vehicles overall going up,” Osborne said. “I don’t think that the Biden administration was held to account for their incredibly car-centric approach to things and agenda.”
Ultimately, Duffy and Trump are opting for “short-term gains” for the U.S. auto industry in the form of cheaper cars and higher sales that will ultimately be outdone by the demand for more efficient electric vehicles, Osborne said.
“I can write the article that’s going to come out in 10 years about why the Chinese completely own our auto market, and it’s because of what we’re doing now,” she said. “They are building the vehicles of the future. We are not.”
With reporting by Kea Wilson
