As expected, in a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, stated that the federal government has jurisdiction over the highways leading to Manhattan and that the newly installed congestion toll represents an unfair burden on out-of-town drivers.
Trump celebrated the potential end of the toll and seemed to self-title himself as the “king” in the post.
“THE CONGESTION TOLL IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” he wrote on social media.
Under the program, most vehicles entering the central business district of Manhattan — from 60th Street to the southern tip of the Financial District — must pay a $9 fee from 5 AM to 9 PM on weekdays and from 9 AM to 9 PM on weekends.
In a press conference shortly after the Trump administration’s announcement, New York Governor Kathy Hochul defiantly insisted that the cameras used to collect the tolls would remain active and criticized Trump.
“President Donald Trump tweeted: ‘Long live the king.’ I am here to say that New York has not ‘worked’ with a king for over 250 years,” she told reporters at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. “And we certainly will not start now.”
Trump’s Secretary of Transportation called the toll “retrogressive and unfair.”
“New York state’s toll is a slap in the face to working-class Americans and small business owners,” he said in a statement. “Passengers who use the highway system to enter New York City already finance the construction and improvement of these highways through gasoline taxes and other taxes.”
Janno Lieber, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, said on Wednesday that he will go to court to fight any federal efforts to end the toll.
It seems this will be yet another lawsuit the Trump administration will have to face in the courts.
Source: NBC News