The wide divergence of views of people in his inner circle is perhaps one reason why Trump held off imposing tariffs on China on day one of his presidency

"Trump wants a deal. Otherwise, he would have shot up China on day one," Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief economist for the Asia Pacific at Natixis, said

"The data China released was different from what most people felt," an executive said, as subdued markets point to wavering confidence in China's outlook, analysts noted

Many Chinese car makers are scouting locations for plants in Europe, the world's second-largest EV market, to circumvent tariffs imposed by the European Commission last year

The new rules will include Russian cars, but exempt BYD buses assembled in California and won't cover Chinese software made before the rules take effect, so GM and Ford can continue to import some China-made vehicles

Despite the Biden Administration’s push to finalise those rules, however, their implementation will come down to President-elect Donald Trump who takes office in a little over a week

A brutal price war between automakers and millions of dollars worth of government subsidies fuelled a record boom in sales of EVs in China last year

Official data on Thursday showed factory-gate prices falling for a second straight year in 2024, while consumer prices only rose marginally

Brazilian authorities probing BYD’s labour practices in the country say the carmaker brought hundreds of Chinese workers on irregular visas to build the factory

Declaring an emergency would allow Trump to build a new tariff programme via the IEEPA law, which authorizes a president to manage imports during a national crisis

Some analysts think Musk's close ties with incoming President Donald Trump might allow Tesla some kind of waiver from potential future restrictions on the Chinese battery giant

This is the second time BYD has overtaken Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles in a quarter