In yet another example of the Trump administration’s commitment to common-sense governance and protecting American consumers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Friday a decisive move to reverse one of the Biden administration’s most destructive and illegal regulations.
Duffy made it clear that fuel economy standards imposed during Joe Biden’s presidency violated the law and placed unfair burdens on American automakers and drivers. Now, under President Trump’s leadership, those standards are on the path to being corrected.
The announcement came as the administration continues its broader effort to dismantle Biden’s radical electric vehicle agenda, which has sought to force Americans out of gas-powered cars through regulatory manipulation and taxpayer-funded subsidies.
President Trump has been clear: he will end the so-called EV “mandate” and restore freedom of choice for American consumers, ensuring that no one is coerced into buying vehicles they neither want nor need.
While the Biden administration tried to deny that it had imposed any such mandate, its own policies told the real story. By inflating fuel economy standards and using EV sales projections to justify unreachable targets, Biden’s regulators attempted to rig the market in favor of electric vehicles while driving up costs for traditional cars and trucks.
The result was a backdoor mandate designed to punish working-class Americans who rely on affordable gas-powered vehicles.
Now, under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Duffy, that unlawful scheme is being rolled back. The Transportation Department’s new memorandum makes it clear that Biden’s regulators “ignored statutory requirements” when they included EVs in the calculation of fuel economy standards.
As Duffy explained, "We are making vehicles more affordable and easier to manufacture in the United States." In other words, the Trump administration is putting American workers, American automakers, and American families first once again.
The revised rule empowers the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to adjust fuel economy standards in the coming months to reflect what is legally permissible and technologically feasible—not what is dictated by the climate cult that dominated Biden’s Department of Transportation.
Earlier this year, Secretary Duffy made it known that the administration would move quickly to reverse the Biden-era standards, which required automakers to achieve an average of 50 miles per gallon by 2031.
That target was a massive increase from the current 39 miles per gallon and was based on an unrealistic and unlawful reliance on electric vehicle penetration.
The Trump administration’s move comes at a critical time. The Biden rules were projected to force automakers to save almost 70 billion gallons of gasoline through 2050—not by genuine efficiency improvements alone, but by artificially inflating EV sales to meet the numbers.
This manipulation distorted the market and punished both consumers and manufacturers. Under the Biden standards, passenger car fuel economy was required to increase by 2% per year from 2027 to 2031, while SUVs and light trucks faced similar hikes starting in 2029.
These targets were never about helping drivers; they were about advancing a left-wing climate agenda at any cost.
Fuel economy rules have existed since the 1970s, originally to promote energy independence. But in recent years, they became a weapon used by the Biden administration to push radical environmental policies that voters never approved.
Cars and trucks are responsible for much of the nation’s transportation emissions, and Biden’s EPA sought to weaponize this fact to justify an all-out war on gasoline-powered vehicles.
Thankfully, automakers have already made tremendous progress in improving fuel efficiency. Under President Trump’s first term, the auto industry delivered real innovations without the need for crushing mandates.
Gasoline-powered cars today get better mileage and produce fewer emissions than ever before—proving that the market can and will deliver progress without the heavy hand of government interference.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents leading automakers, praised Secretary Duffy’s announcement, calling it "a positive development" that brings "important clarity" to the regulatory environment.
As the group’s president and CEO John Bozzella noted, the Biden-era standards were "improperly predicated" on EVs, making them legally and practically indefensible.
But predictably, radical environmental groups like the Sierra Club lashed out. Katherine Garcia, who leads the group’s Clean Transportation for All program, absurdly claimed that making vehicles more affordable and realistic for American drivers would somehow increase pollution and costs.
In reality, Biden’s impossible standards were the real threat to families, forcing them to pay more for cars they didn’t want and limiting their options in the marketplace.
In another important move, Senate Republicans added language to the pending budget bill that would remove fines imposed on automakers that fail to meet Biden’s extreme fuel economy targets for gas-powered vehicles.
Under the old rules, automakers could buy regulatory credits to avoid penalties. EV makers like Tesla, which don’t rely on gasoline, profited handsomely from this rigged system by selling credits to their competitors—a scheme that funneled billions of dollars to Tesla and other EV companies like Rivian.
President Trump and GOP leaders in the Senate are putting an end to this taxpayer-subsidized scam.
The timing of these reforms is also notable, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Trump have recently clashed publicly over the President’s budget bill. Trump rightly pointed out that Musk’s opposition to the bill likely stems from its rollback of EV tax credits that have enriched Musk’s empire.
Despite Musk’s denials, the facts speak for themselves: under Biden, the federal government propped up the EV market with massive subsidies and mandates. President Trump is restoring fairness and competition to the auto industry.
The contrast between Trump’s America First energy and transportation policies and Biden’s radical climate agenda could not be starker. While Biden sought to coerce Americans into electric vehicles through backdoor mandates and regulatory trickery, President Trump is fighting to ensure that drivers can choose the vehicles that best suit their needs.
He is standing up for American workers in the auto industry, who faced job losses and production challenges under Biden’s unrealistic standards. He is defending American consumers from higher prices and reduced choice.
And he is putting an end to the taxpayer-funded gravy train that enriched a handful of EV companies at the public’s expense.
As the Trump administration continues its second-term mission to undo the damage of Biden’s radical policies, rolling back the illegal fuel economy standards is a major victory for American freedom and common sense.
The MAGA movement remains committed to fighting for policies that empower American families, not the climate extremists in Washington. And President Trump has once again proven that he is the only leader willing to stand up to the globalist green agenda and put America First.
With the Transportation Department’s actions this week and the GOP’s budget reforms moving through Congress, the tide is turning. American drivers can look forward to more affordable vehicles, more choices in the marketplace, and a transportation policy grounded in reality—not left-wing ideology.
The road ahead is clear: under President Trump’s leadership, America’s auto industry and its hardworking families will drive toward a brighter, freer, and more prosperous future.
