US car tariffs help Chinese EVs to race ahead

European and Asian carmakers’ shares have dropped, but so have those of US carmakers, whose costs will rise. Shares of China’s BYD, however, now the world’s biggest maker of electric vehicles, rose on Thursday. The US tariffs may put western carmakers further behind BYD and its compatriots — by pushing their prices up just when Chinese groups are coming out with ever more affordable offerings and whizzy EV technology.