Trump administration touts push to lower car prices, de-emphasize EVs

By David Shepardson

DETROIT, Jan 17 – The Trump administration’s top auto policy officials on Saturday touted federal efforts to lower car prices by eliminating vehicle emissions regulations, as affordability remains a key concern among Americans.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer toured the annual Detroit Auto Show to wrap up a two-day Midwestern swing that included stops at a Ford truck factory and Stellantis Jeep plant in Ohio on Friday.

The administration has aggressively rolled back electric vehicle rules from former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Duffy said the rules “will bring car prices down and allow car companies to offer products that Americans want to buy.”

He added, “this is not a war on EVs at all … We shouldn’t use government policy to encourage EV purchases all the while penalizing combustion engines.”

INFLATION A TOP CONCERN AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

President Donald Trump is grappling with economic headwinds a year after taking office and ahead of November’s midterm ⁠elections, having campaigned on quickly fixing higher prices for American consumers.

Average new car transaction prices hit a record $50,326 in December as Americans bought more pricey trucks and SUVs, research firm Cox Automotive said, while automakers are offering fewer entry-level vehicles.

Trump signed legislation last year eliminating a $7,500 EV tax credit, rescinding California’s EV rules and cancelling penalties for automakers not meeting fuel efficiency requirements.

Zeldin said the government “should not be forcing, requiring, mandating that the market go in a direction other than what the American consumer is demanding.”

Automakers also face steep tariffs imposed by Trump on imported vehicles and parts. Despite the EV policy changes and new tariffs, new U.S. vehicle sales rose 2.4% in 2025 to 16.2 million vehicles.

Democrats say auto tariffs and efforts to eliminate EV incentives will harm consumers. But Greer said car prices are trending down and “whatever effects those tariffs may have on various parts of the supply chain, they’re not really getting down to the consumer.”

Kathy Harris, director of clean vehicles at environmental activist group NRDC, criticized the administration’s auto policies. “The oil industry will rake in billions more from cash-strapped Americans who can’t afford to spend more to fuel up their car or truck.”

In December, the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed rolling back Biden-era fuel efficiency standards that had prodded auto companies to build more EVs to comply. The EPA is also expected to finalize a rule in the coming weeks eliminating vehicle tailpipe emissions requirements.

USDOT estimates its proposal would reduce average up-front vehicle costs by $930, but increase fuel consumption by as much as 100 billion gallons through 2050, and cost Americans up to another $185 billion for fuel.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in DetroitEditing by Rod Nickel)