China’s EV backdoor

Last week, news surfaced that China’s BYD is accelerating plans to manufacture in Turkey, eyeing it as a strategic springboard to export EVs into Europe. 

Samuel Wendel
Samuel Wendel
Jul 29, 2025
A girl plays with a robot during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference at the Shanghai World Expo and Convention Center on July 28, 2025. (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)

Welcome back to Al-Monitor FutureVerse.

China’s top EV maker is changing lanes: BYD is fast-tracking a $1 billion factory in Turkey, hoping to bypass European Union tariffs by leveraging the country’s customs union membership. We explore that in this week’s addition alongside Trump’s AI pivot, a new Arab tech billionaire, China’s AI alliance and Saudi Arabia’s bet on critical minerals. 

Sign up for the newsletter here.

Thanks for reading,
Sam (@sam_wendel)

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

Continue reading this exclusive analysis

Original reporting and analysis unavailable elsewhere. Subscribe to AL-MONITOR to read this story and access everything we publish

Read By

White House logo NATO Logo World Bank logo European Union logo United Nations logo Foreign and Commonwealth Office logo Harvard University logo