The big picture: Automakers invest in China due to Trump's trade war

The big picture

BMW expects a 5–10% bump in Chinese sales this year, despite tariffs, because it has shifted manufacturing to Asia, Reuters reports.

• The automaker now builds X3s intended for the Chinese market in China, so it doesn't have to export the model from Spartanburg, South Carolina. That raises the total number of BMW models manufactured in China to six. BMW also imports its X5 to China from Thailand.

Tesla wants to build a massive Chinese factory in part to weather the trade war.

• The company plans to pour $5 billion into a Shanghai factory and eventually manufacture 500,000 Model 3 units per year in China.

• China is the world's fastest-growing auto market — and it's Tesla's second-largest market for electric vehicles, behind the U.S., according to Bloomberg.

Volkswagen is partnering with China as it plots its move to electric vehicles.

• Volkswagen says it will invest $12 billion in the Chinese market by 2025, per Bloomberg, and expects China to be the largest market for its electric vehicles.

The bottom line: While the Trump administration launched a global trade war with the goal of bolstering U.S. manufacturing, the trade war's unintended consequences could far outlast the conflict itself.