The lower emissions standards are a form of subsidy, as are not requiring them to be as safe is required by many of our peer countries, but my larger point was that the U.S. has had a century of car-centric, bordering on car-only, infrastructure. That has shaped every part of our country from pushing highways through cities to having the design code used by most cities and states hyper-focused on wide roads optimized for vehicle speeds over safety. There are some cases where following that is linked to federal funding but most DOTs follow the federal guidelines closely even on projects they’re funding entirely locally.
The other big one is gas: we put huge political efforts into keeping prices low, which disproportionately benefits people buying new vehicles which get 1970s-era mileage.
