White House Curveball Rattles Ford, GM

Ford and GM executives walked into the White House to lobby against your right to fix your own car — and President Trump just used that meeting to sign a memo protecting it anyway.

Story Snapshot

Trump signed a presidential memo in June 2026 protecting Americans’ right to repair their own vehicles and access aftermarket parts.
Trump says Ford and GM came to the White House pushing a bill that would restrict owners from repairing their own cars.
Automakers have fought consumer repair rights since at least 2001, using a toothless 2014 voluntary agreement to stall real federal action.
70% of America’s 292 million registered vehicles are already serviced by independent repair shops — a market automakers want to squeeze out.

Ford and GM Walked Into the White House and Got the Opposite of What They Wanted

On June 4, 2026, Trump met with auto industry leaders in the Oval Office. What happened next surprised almost everyone. Trump said Ford and GM came asking him to back a bill that would stop owners from repairing their own vehicles. His response was blunt. “They don’t want people to fix their car,” Trump said. “I said, That’s strange.” ^[4] Days later, he signed a presidential memo backing the freedom to fix — turning the automakers’ own lobbying visit into a political own goal.

Ford CEO Jim Farley pushed back carefully. He said independent repairs are fine, but warranty work needs specialized tools and factory expertise. ^[10] That sounds reasonable on the surface. But it sidesteps the real issue: automakers have spent decades locking diagnostic data, software tools, and repair information behind dealer-only walls. Warranty work is a small slice of all repairs. The fight is about everything else — the oil changes, brake jobs, and computer resets that independent shops handle every day.

This Fight Is Older Than Most People Realize

The right-to-repair battle in the auto industry did not start with Trump. It goes back to 1992, with federal bills introduced as early as 2001. ^[19] Massachusetts finally passed the first real automotive right-to-repair law in 2012. It forced automakers to give independent shops the same diagnostic data they gave their own dealers. Facing similar laws in other states, major automakers signed a voluntary agreement in January 2014 to follow the Massachusetts model nationwide starting in 2018. ^[19] There was just one problem: the agreement had no enforcement teeth at all.

That 2014 memorandum also included a loophole wide enough to drive a truck through. Manufacturers were not required to share anything they considered a trade secret. ^[2] Given how broadly automakers define “trade secret” when it comes to vehicle software, that clause swallowed the whole agreement. Independent shops still found themselves locked out of the data they needed. Nothing changed. The voluntary promise turned out to be exactly what skeptics said it was — a stall tactic dressed up as a solution.

Congress Tried to Fix It. Automakers Gutted the Bill.

Lawmakers introduced the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair Act — known as the REPAIR Act — to create a real federal standard with actual enforcement. The bill would have required automakers to share diagnostic data, software tools, and repair information with independent shops and owners. It included Federal Trade Commission enforcement with real fines. Then it went to committee. By the time it came out, the core provisions were stripped. What survived was folded into a watered-down bill, H.R. 7389, which critics said failed consumers entirely. ^[22]

What the Memo Actually Means for Your Wallet

The stakes here are not abstract. Seventy percent of America’s 292 million registered vehicles are serviced by independent repair shops. ^[24] When automakers control who can access diagnostic data, they shrink that market. Fewer independent shops means less competition. Less competition means higher repair bills — paid by the same working Americans who already stretched to buy the car. A presidential memo does not carry the force of law the way a passed bill does, but it signals where the administration stands and puts pressure on agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency to act.

BREAKING: President Trump signs a presidential memo to make it easier for Americans to repair their own cars by protecting the right to fix vehicles and opening up more options for approving aftermarket parts.

"It came to my attention because I noticed they were arresting people… pic.twitter.com/ij6OWQWueA

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 29, 2026

The REPAIR Act was reintroduced in February 2025 and is still working through Congress. ^[23] Trump’s memo adds political momentum, but the auto lobby is well-funded and patient. They have delayed this fight for over two decades by signing toothless agreements, lobbying to gut bills in committee, and framing repair rights as a safety threat. The safety argument deserves scrutiny. There is no public data showing independent repairs cause more accidents or failures than dealer repairs. Until that data exists, the safety claim looks more like a competitive shield than a genuine concern. Americans who believe in property rights and free markets should find the automakers’ position hard to defend.