Trump reverses a Biden-era auto regulation: "A $109 billion savings"

Donald Trump announced the modification of a Biden-era auto regulation. The president delivered the news from the Oval Office, accompanied by a group of lawmakers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Ford CEO Jim Farley. According to Trump, the 'Freedom Means Affordable Cars' initiative will allow about a thousand dollars off the price of new cars.

Specifically, the modified regulation is the fuel efficiency requirement. What did this rule consist of? It forced automakers to manufacture cars to very high standards, which, according to the Trump Administration, was intended to "artificially increase the supply of electric vehicles that U.S. consumers did not request." The regulation sets how many miles a car should go on just one gallon of fuel. The more miles, the higher the technology that vehicle must carry.

During the Biden Administration, fuel efficiency requirements were increased by 8% for 2024 and 2025 models and by 10% for 2026. This percentage was much higher than the 1.5% approved during the first Trump administration. For Republicans, the figure increased costs excessively for companies, which ultimately ended up being reflected in the prices paid by consumers.

With the modification, fuel efficiency requirements for cars and light-duty utilities would become 34.5 miles per gallon, well below the 50.4 miles per gallon that was set under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

"We're officially terminating Joe Biden's ridiculously burdensome, horrible standards that imposed expensive restrictions and gave all sorts of problems, to automakers. It put tremendous upward pressure on car prices, combined with the insane electric vehicle mandate. Biden's burdensome regulations have caused the price of cars to soar more than 25%, and, in one case, they went up 18% in one year," Trump said in the Oval Office.

"As America’s largest auto producer, we appreciate President Trump’s leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities. We can make real progress on carbon emissions and energy efficiency while still giving customers choice and affordability. This is a win for customers and common sense," added Ford CEO Jim Farley. 

According to the Department of Transportation, the 'Freedom Means Affordable Cars' initiative will save $109 billion over the next five years, as well as $1,000 in the average cost of a new vehicle.

In turn, they pointed out that, by creating more incentives to buy a new car, they are increasing the safety of Americans: "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that more than 1,500 lives would be saved and nearly 250,000 serious injuries would be avoided through 2050".

On this point also spoke Senator Ted Cruz, who was present at the event: "What these regulations did is they forced cars to be more expensive and made of plastic instead of steel because you had to make them lighter to comply with these standards. To get in a wreck, people would die. As a result of what you're doing, you're literally saving people's lives, and you're making it so families will afford to get into a car..."