Trump’s Transportation chief calls for lowering CAFE standards

By Mike Lee | 01/29/2025 06:36 AM EST

Newly confirmed DOT Secretary Sean Duffy directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to make good on President Donald Trump’s pledge to slow or stop the shift to electric vehicles.

Former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy, confirmed Tuesday as Transportation Secretary, speaks Jan. 15 before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy, confirmed Tuesday as Transportation Secretary, speaks Jan. 15 before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Susan Walsh/AP

Hours after he was confirmed Tuesday by the Senate, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered his agency to start work on one of President Donald Trump’s top priorities — lowering fuel economy standards for cars and trucks.

The Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard, which the Transportation Department approved in June, was part of the Biden administration’s broader plan to combat climate change and promote electric vehicles. Trump promised throughout his campaign to change the regulation and get rid of other policies encouraging EVs — and on Duffy’s first day in office he followed through on his new boss’s pledge.

Duffy signed a four-page memo directing officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to “commence an immediate review and reconsideration of all existing fuel economy standards, applicable to all models of motor vehicles produced from model year 2022 forward.”

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The memo did not suggest a new level for the fuel economy standards, but Duffy’s directive is line with a pattern that goes back several administrations.

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