‘I don't control that’: Eric Adams on Trump’s vow to end congestion pricing

If President Donald Trump moves to undo congestion pricing, don’t expect Mayor Eric Adams to lead the fight to protect it. 

Over the weekend, Trump met with several Republican members of Congress, including Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who reported that Trump was committed to ending congestion pricing. 

Asked about that possibility on Monday, and whether he would support it, Adams suggested that if Trump is able to scrap the program, there’s not a whole lot the mayor could do – offering, in effect, a defense of federalism. “If he reverses it, it doesn’t matter if I support or don’t support (it),” Adams said. “If the federal government has the authority to do something within their powers, then we can’t sit back and complain about it, because we do things within our powers.” 

The historic road tolling program in Manhattan, which went into effect on Jan. 5, received its final federal approval in November under the Biden administration. Trump has vowed to end the program when he takes office, but it’s not clear exactly how he would do that.

Mayor Eric Adams has largely deferred to Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority when discussing the program, though he’s shared criticism about the lack of carveouts for certain groups, including for people traveling to medical appointments. Since the toll went into effect last week, he hasn’t commented on it in depth. Presented with some initial data about faster travel times in the Lincoln Tunnel over the weekend, Adams said that he wants more data to be able to make an analysis. “It’s the law of the land right now, and the worst thing I can do is throw more hysteria into this law of the land – particularly (that) I don’t have any control over,” he said.

The program was passed by the state Legislature and is administered by the MTA. Though the city doesn’t have control over the program, a mayor can theoretically use his bully pulpit to advocate for or against policies. Asked at his open-ended press conference on Monday whether he would support Trump moving to reverse congestion pricing, Adams suggested a hands-off approach if such a decision were to come down from the new administration. “Whatever we need to do to deal with congestion, the environment, the environmental issues, how to make sure it’s done fair and not balancing on the back of working class people – I’m in favor of,” Adams said. “But if the president decides an action such as that – I don't control that.” 

Adams has refrained from criticizing the incoming Trump administration, including Trump’s vow to deport undocumented immigrants en masse. At his State of the City address last week, Adams did not mention the incoming Republican administration at all.

“If the federal government somehow flips against congestion pricing, the mayor owes New Yorkers everything he can muster against traffic congestion, toxic air pollution, and crumbling public transit infrastructure,” Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director at the advocacy group Riders Alliance, wrote in a text.

“I know what I control, and I control what I control, and we’ve done a darn good job in controlling what we control,” Adams said, adding of his rhetorical repetition with a laugh, “I like that.”