The American Energy Alliance praised the Trump Administration’s finalization of the “Freedom Means Affordable Cars” rule that will reset the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, thereby reducing costs for American families and causing safer roads.
“President Trump should be commended for upending the abuses of the [Corporate Average Fuel Economy] program by the Obama and Biden administrations,” President of the American Energy Alliance Tom Pyle said in a statement obtained by The Center Square.
Pyle said that the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards are “a relic of a bygone era when scarcity was dictating energy policy.”
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, CAFE was enacted in 1975 and was intended to “reduce energy consumption by increasing the fuel economy of cars and light trucks.”
Pyle stated that “Washington has no place being in the business of deciding what kind of car Americans can buy.
“This rule offers a significant improvement, allowing manufacturers to work on actual fuel efficiency innovation rather than relying on EV mandates or complicated fleetwide accounting,” Pyle said.
“But as long as the government has the authority to mandate fuel efficiency, the ability of future administrations to further disrupt auto markets will persist,” Pyle said. “It’s time for Congress to repeal CAFE altogether.”
When reached for comment, the Department of Transportation referred The Center Square to a news release.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in the release: “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we have finally ended the illegal mandate that forced automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles that American families didn’t want.”
“With our commonsense standards in place, we are making the American dream affordable again, putting safer cars on the road, and investing in the American autoworker,” Duffy said.
The American Energy Alliance’s Tom Pyle noted that “most importantly,” the reset of CAFE is “about affordability and choice.”
“With projected savings of roughly $1,300 per vehicle, families should have a little more wiggle room in their budgets and more freedom to buy the cars and trucks that actually fit their lives, their work, and their needs, not the vehicles that politicians and bureaucrats think they should drive,” Pyle said.
“Ending the credit-trading scheme, which effectively shifted costs onto buyers of standard vehicles while benefiting EV manufacturing, is especially important,” Pyle said.
“Additionally, these changes give automakers greater certainty and make it harder for future administrations to abruptly reverse course,” Pyle said.
