EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Andy Barr warns CSDDD would “jack up energy prices in the United States”
Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) slammed the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), warning that the sweeping climate and supply chain mandate could increase energy prices for Americans and undermine efforts to expand U.S. energy production.
Barr currently serves as chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and is widely viewed as the future U.S. senator from Kentucky, following his dominating win in the Kentucky primary. Barr won his primary with more than 60% of the vote despite having more than ten million in ads spent against him and running against Kentucky’s former attorney general.
Barr’s comments to the Washington Reporter come as Republicans increasingly point out the EU’s CSDDD is both an economic threat and a sovereignty issue, arguing that European regulators are attempting to impose climate-focused standards on American companies through global markets and supply chains.
“Because energy markets are global, regulatory schemes like the CSDDD will jack up energy prices in the United States, whether they are implemented in Europe or elsewhere,” Barr told the Reporter exclusively.
“Our allies should join the United States in adopting an energy dominance strategy that promote investment in energy across the board, including traditional energy sources like natural gas and coal, to create jobs and lower costs for consumers.”
Barr’s comments are another sign that opposition to the EU’s sustainability mandates is becoming an increasingly potent issue among Republicans expected to shape the next generation of Senate leadership.
Barr has made lowering costs for Kentuckians and expanding domestic energy production central themes of his campaign and work in Congress. His warning on CSDDD fits into a broader Republican argument that foreign climate mandates could increase costs for American families by driving up energy prices and imposing compliance burdens throughout supply chains.
The Reporter previously reported that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) warned the EU was attempting to “export their disastrous economic model” to states like Arkansas through climate and supply chain mandates American voters rejected.
The Reporter also reported that Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) rebuked what he described as Europe’s “ideologically driven regulatory experiments,” warning that the directives threaten American workers, manufacturers, and energy producers.
Barr has already joined Scott, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.), Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) in warning the Trump administration that the CSDDD could undermine American competitiveness and effectively force European standards onto U.S. businesses.
The National Association of Manufacturers has warned that the directive could create significant compliance costs across American supply chains and ultimately increase prices for consumers.
Republicans increasingly argue that the fight over CSDDD extends beyond ESG policy and into broader questions about energy dominance, manufacturing competitiveness, affordability, and whether foreign governments should be able to influence how American companies operate.
