US DoT issues order to “rescind or replace” CAFE standards

As expected, US regulators are moving to roll back fuel economy standards on new vehicles following Trump’s assumption of office. Former Fox News host and reality television star Sean Duffy was sworn in as the 20th Secretary of the US Department of Transportation on 28 January 2025. His first official act was to sign a memorandum directing staff to start the process of resetting Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. It specifically directs the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to immediately initiate a rulemaking “to rescind or replace all existing CAFE standards.”

The rules currently in place require a 2% improvement in fuel economy every year for all passenger cars and light trucks between model years (MY) 2027 and 2031. By MY2031, the final standard would require 50.4mpg.