The Trump administration finalized new federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards today, dropping the industrywide fuel economy target to 34.9 miles per gallon by model year 2031 — less than 70% of the 50.4 mpg target set by the Biden administration for the same year.

President Donald Trump framed the change as a win for affordability, posting on Truth Social over the weekend that lower standards will “take the waste out of building cars in America” and save families “thousands on a new, beautiful and safe car.” At a White House event, he was more colorful: “We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome — horrible, actually — CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions,” he said. “And all sorts of problems, all sorts of problems for automakers.”

The average new-vehicle transaction price hovers around $50,000, and no American brands appear in Car and Driver’s latest list of the most affordable cars sold in the U.S. The Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Sentra, Kia K4, Hyundai Elantra and Mazda3 have filled the budget car market while Detroit 3 fleets are increasingly dominated by light trucks and SUVs.

The administration has enacted tariffs and renegotiated trade agreements as part of a wider effort to repatriate manufacturing jobs. Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a formal, three-day visit to Washington last week, having raised the prospect of Chinese automakers building vehicles in U.S. factories. Trump fueled speculation when he told Fox News he would be “OK” with that, provided they hire American workers.

Chinese cars can’t currently be sold here, but they are already reshaping the North American market: Chinese-branded vehicles account for roughly 16% of new car sales in Mexico, where a Geely EV sells for around $20,000 within five miles of the Texas border. Canada, meanwhile, recently lowered its tariff on Chinese EVs from 100% to 6.1% on the first 49,000 units imported annually. The United-States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement negotiated during Trump’s first term is under a contentious six-year review.