After new automotive costs hit report excessive, Trump admin says it’s working to decrease prices | EUROtoday

The Trump administration’s main auto coverage officers have championed federal efforts to scale back automotive costs by dismantling automobile emissions rules, as affordability stays a major concern for American customers.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer concluded a two-day Midwestern tour on the annual Detroit Auto Show. Their itinerary included visits to a Ford truck manufacturing facility and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Ohio on Friday.

The administration has aggressively rolled again electrical automobile guidelines from former President Joe Biden’s administration. Mr Duffy acknowledged that these adjustments “will bring car prices down and allow car companies to offer products that Americans want to buy.” He additional clarified, “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.”

President Donald Trump is grappling with financial headwinds a 12 months after taking workplace and forward of November’s midterm elections, having campaigned on rapidly fixing larger costs for American customers. Average new automotive transaction costs reached a report $50,326 in December, pushed by client desire for pricier vans and SUVs, in accordance with analysis agency Cox Automotive, whereas automakers provide fewer entry-level autos.

Last 12 months, Trump signed laws eliminating a $7,500 EV tax credit score, rescinding California’s EV guidelines, and cancelling penalties for automakers not assembly gasoline effectivity necessities. Mr Zeldin asserted that the federal government “should not be forcing, requiring, mandating that the market go in a direction other than what the American consumer is demanding.”

Automakers additionally face steep tariffs imposed by Trump on imported autos and components. Despite these coverage shifts and new tariffs, new U.S. automobile gross sales rose 2.4% in 2025 to 16.2 million autos.

Democrats argue that auto tariffs and efforts to remove EV incentives will hurt customers. However, Greer contended that automotive costs 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 fresh autos on the environmental activist group NRDC, criticised the administration’s auto insurance policies. She warned, “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 again Biden-era gasoline effectivity requirements that had inspired auto corporations to construct extra EVs. The EPA can also be anticipated to finalise a rule within the coming weeks eliminating automobile tailpipe emissions necessities. The USDOT estimates its proposal would cut back common up-front automobile prices by $930, however improve gasoline consumption by as a lot as 100 billion gallons by 2050, and price Americans as much as one other $185 billion for gasoline