Sean Duffy’s first act as U.S. Transportation Secretary was to sign a memorandum directing staff to start the process of resetting corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards. The DoT said doing so will ultimately lower the price of a car for American consumers and eliminate the electric vehicle mandate.

Duffy was officially sworn in as the 20th Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) on January 28. “We are already hard at work executing the President's vision to usher in a golden age of transportation by taking immediate action to remove government overreach and lower costs for hardworking Americans,” said Duffy. “The memorandum signed today specifically reduces the burdensome and overly restrictive fuel standards that have needlessly driven up the cost of a car in order to push a radical Green New Deal agenda. The American people should not be forced to sacrifice choice and affordability when purchasing a new car.” 

The memorandum signed by the Secretary directs the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to immediately initiate a rulemaking to rescind or replace all existing CAFE standards.