Trump Admin Targets Lower Car Prices by Rolling Back EV Mandates

The Trump administration is putting American drivers first and slamming the brakes on the Biden-era electric vehicle (EV) mandates that helped drive car prices to record highs.

During a tour of the Detroit Auto Show and Midwest manufacturing plants this weekend, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, EPA chief Lee Zeldin, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer rolled out the administration’s plan to lower car prices by eliminating costly, top-down emissions regulations and restoring market freedom in the auto industry.

“This is not a war on EVs,” Duffy said. “But we shouldn’t use government policy to encourage EV purchases all the while penalizing combustion engines.”

In other words: let the people choose.

Under President Trump’s leadership, the administration has:

• Eliminated the $7,500 EV tax credit, ending government subsidies for vehicles most Americans can’t afford.

• Revoked California’s ability to enforce its own extreme EV mandates, leveling the playing field nationwide.

• Canceled fines for automakers who don’t hit arbitrary fuel-efficiency targets — targets that made cars more expensive and reduced options for consumers.

And the results are already showing. Despite relentless fearmongering from Democrats and environmental extremists, new U.S. vehicle sales actually increased by 2.4% in 2025, reaching 16.2 million vehicles. The market is thriving not because of government interference, but because of reduced regulation.

Under Joe Biden’s climate-heavy policies, the average new car transaction price soared to $50,326 in December up nearly 30% from just five years ago, according to Cox Automotive. Entry-level vehicles have nearly disappeared, replaced by high-priced EVs and luxury SUVs that satisfy green mandates but price out middle-class families.

Trump’s rollback of those rules is a course correction for working Americans who just want to buy an affordable, reliable car.

EPA head Lee Zeldin put it simply “The government should not be forcing, requiring, mandating that the market go in a direction other than what the American consumer is demanding.”

Yet the Biden camp and their allies on the Left continue to complain. Environmental activists warn that scrapping EV subsidies and tailpipe emission rules could raise fuel consumption over time. But they conveniently ignore the $930 average up-front savings that come with Trump’s proposals savings that matter far more to the average family than an unproven climate model prediction 25 years from now.

And let’s be honest: who’s really benefiting from forced EV adoption?

• Big Tech, which dominates EV software and batteries.

• China, which controls most of the EV battery supply chain.

• Wealthy elites, who want working families to fund their Tesla tax credits.

Kathy Harris of the left-wing NRDC even claimed the oil industry will benefit ignoring the fact that Americans just want to afford a car without taking out a second mortgage.

What Trump is doing is restoring sanity. No more top-down, Silicon Valley-engineered auto mandates. No more punishing the working class to meet climate goals written in Brussels. Just common-sense policies that lower costs and give Americans freedom of choice.

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