Auto industry insiders were stunned when Caresoft, a highly regarded engineering consulting firm, tore down BYD's mass-market EV, the Seagull.

Priced around $11,000, the engineers found the Seagull to be well-designed, user friendly, rich with options, and of surprisingly high quality and reliability.

The US automakers reacted swiftly, and produced reports insisting that BYD's entrance into US car markets would be met with strong enthusiasm from buyers, and legacy carmakers would be unable to survive.

Because of the Seagull's low price point, US tariffs of 25% would be irrelevant: BYD could still make high profits even after the tariffs were paid. Or, BYD could simply place final assembly plants in Mexico and avoid them altogether. Aware of this, the Biden Administration in May jacked the tariffs up to 100%, and announced that Chinese car plants even in tariff treaty countries would be cut off from US markets.