Hold onto your wallets, folks -- President Donald Trump just dropped a bombshell that could make buying a car less of a financial gut punch.

On Wednesday, Trump declared in the Oval Office that his administration is scrapping the Biden-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, a move flanked by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Republican lawmakers, and auto industry heavyweights, all aimed at dialing back regulations that allegedly spiked car prices, as Breitbart reports.

Let’s rewind to the Biden administration’s playbook, which rolled out aggressive fuel efficiency targets starting with an 8% jump for 2024-2025 model passenger cars and light trucks, followed by a 10% hike for 2026 models, as announced back in April 2022.

Trump Targets Costly Biden Regulations

Fast forward to June 2024, when the Department of Transportation doubled down with rules pushing a 2% annual increase for passenger cars from 2027 to 2031 and the same rate for light trucks from 2029 to 2031.

Trump didn’t mince words, arguing these mandates jacked up vehicle costs by over 25%, with one year alone seeing an 18% surge, thanks to a toxic mix of fuel standards and electric vehicle quotas that hit both domestic and foreign automakers hard.

“We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible, actually, CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions and all sorts of problems to auto makers,” Trump stated, signaling a return to what he sees as Congressional intent.

Industry Leaders Cheer Affordability Focus

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy piled on, blasting the previous administration’s approach as a fantasy that forced automakers to chase an “unattainable” 62 miles-per-gallon benchmark using electric and hybrid tech.

“Biden and Buttigieg…used EVs and hybrids to come up with a 62 mile-an-hour per gallon standard, which the car companies will tell you, is completely unattainable,” Duffy said. Talk about a policy detached from reality -- carmakers burned cash on tech or got stuck trading carbon credits, both inflating sticker prices.

Duffy didn’t stop there, pointing out that these rules made cars less affordable, not more, while claiming the rollback will prioritize consumer choice and bolster American jobs through a freer market.

Automakers See Common Sense Return

Auto industry leaders were quick to applaud, with Ford CEO Jim Farley calling it “a victory on common sense and affordability.” When even corporate suits sound relieved, you know the prior rules were a mess.

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa echoed the sentiment, noting the revised standards better match what customers actually want, not what bureaucrats dream up in Washington.

The Trump administration’s own fact sheet didn’t hold back either, accusing the Biden team of overstepping legal bounds set by Congress for the CAFE program, a charge that adds legal heft to the rollback.

Consumer Choice Takes Center Stage

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about ignoring efficiency or the environment, but about questioning whether top-down mandates that price families out of new cars are really the answer. Duffy’s emphasis on letting Americans buy what they want, not what’s dictated, strikes a chord.

Recall that Trump pulled a similar move in his first term, scaling back Obama-era mileage rules, so this isn’t uncharted territory for him. It’s a pattern of pushing back against what he sees as regulatory overreach.

At the end of the day, with Duffy promising safer, more affordable cars through updated tech and market freedom, this reset might just steer the auto industry back to a road that everyday Americans can afford to travel. Here’s hoping the savings at the dealership match the rhetoric from the Oval Office.