BYD Co Ltd Class ABYD chairman may join Xi's US visit, potentially enabling local US production, but US tariffs over 100% and Pentagon 'military company' designation pose deep opposition.

Bloomberg reported on the 16th that BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu may accompany Chinese President Xi Jinping on his visit to the United States, expected to coincide with a US-China summit on the 24th of next week. Candidates for the corporate delegation number more than a dozen companies spanning sectors including high technology and agriculture, with the apparent aim of promoting increased purchases of American goods and investment in the United States. US President Trump said in an interview with Fox News on the 11th that if China wants to come to the United States and open automobile production plants, that is fine with him. BYD already operates an electric bus production plant in California, and accompanying the delegation would provide a foothold for expanding local production. Cai Qi, the fifth-ranked member of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, and others are scrutinizing the list of accompanying companies, and the situation remains fluid. The United States imposes tariffs of more than 100 percent on Chinese EVs, effectively shutting out Chinese passenger cars, and the US Department of Defense has designated BYD as a Chinese military company, so domestic opposition to its entry into the US market runs deep.
BYD Co Ltd Class ABYD chairman may join Xi's US visit, potentially enabling local US production, but US tariffs over 100% and Pentagon 'military company' designation pose deep opposition.