WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a new campaign to promote American-made vehicles and automotive tourism on Thursday.

Introduced through a car show outside U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters, which Duffy said will be annual, the Great American Road Trip commemorates America’s upcoming 250th anniversary with a new website highlighting 250 U.S. destinations.

What You Need To Know

  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy rolled out a new campaign to celebrate automotive tourism

  • A new Great American Road Trip website includes a list of 250 U.S. destinations travelers can visit by car

  • The campaign was launched one year before the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary

  • The announcement came as part of a new car Great American Road Trip car show for American-made vehicles at DOT headquarters that Duffy said will be annual

"To love America is to see America,” Duffy said at an outdoor event where 19 automakers displayed 40 of their vehicles — all of them made in the U.S. by Ford, Stellantis, Honda, Subaru, Tesla and other companies with domestic factories. “There’s nothing more American than a road trip, right?”

During the event, Duffy introduced a new logo and website for the DOT’s celebration of next year’s semiquincentennial American anniversary. He said President Donald Trump tasked each federal department to celebrate the event and that “the Department of Transportation has come up with the best idea of all the departments.”

The logo for the Great American Road Trip then popped up on a large screen next to him on stage, showing an SUV wheeling across a winding road toward the viewer and the site’s tagline: "You’ve got to see America to celebrate America."

The site — roadtripinamerica.com — has links for less-than-expected stops grouped by category. A link for “quicky Americana made of corn” includes South Dakota’s Corn Palace, while a link for “Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Legacy” directs travelers to Independence, Kansas, where they can visit the Little House on the Prairie Museum.

“As our country celebrates the birthday, I do think there’s something about freedom in a vehicle,” Duffy said. “There’s something about the freedom of mobility, and there’s something very American about it.”

Duffy extended an invitation to foreign tourists to take a week or 10 days to visit the U.S. and see it by car. 

“Eat at our great restaurants, stay in our wonderful hotels, gas up your car with great American energy,” he said. “It’s going to be wonderful for our economy.”