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Turkey will soon unveil an agreement with BYD<\/a> Co. to construct a $1 billion plant in the west of the country, Turkish officials said, boosting the Chinese carmaker\u2019s presence in Europe at a time of escalating trade tensions.<\/p>\n Turkey\u2019s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to announce the accord on Monday during a ceremony in Manisa province, where the plant will be built, the officials said, asking not to be named because they aren\u2019t authorized to speak publicly. BYD representatives and the president\u2019s office declined to comment.<\/p>\n The new factory would improve BYD\u2019s access to the European Union, because Turkey has a customs-union agreement with the bloc. The EU\u00a0moved ahead<\/a>\u00a0this week with plans to impose provisional tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China, hitting BYD with an additional 17.4% charge on top of the existing 10% rate.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a domestic market to serve, with EVs accounting for 7.5% of car sales last year in Turkey, a country with a population of almost 90 million.<\/p>\n Turkey announced Friday that it was walking back plans announced almost a month ago to impose an additional\u00a040% tariff<\/a>\u00a0on all vehicles from China, citing efforts to encourage investment. That decision followed\u00a0talks<\/a>\u00a0between Erdogan and China\u2019s President Xi Jinping on Thursday during a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Astana, Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n BYD has been on a tear the last several years in China, becoming the nation\u2019s\u00a0best-selling<\/a>\u00a0car brand. The Shenzhen-based manufacturer has vowed to bring its lower-priced EVs to Europe in the coming years, including the Seagull hatchback that executives expect to sell for\u00a0less than \u20ac20,000<\/a>($21,700).<\/p>\n The automaker opened its first EV plant in Southeast Asia on Thursday, in\u00a0Thailand<\/a>. BYD has also taken over a former Ford Motor<\/a> Co. factory in\u00a0Brazil<\/a>\u00a0and been scoping out locations for a plant in\u00a0Mexico<\/a>. Its first car factory for Europe, in\u00a0Hungary<\/a>, is under construction.<\/p>\n BYD\u2019s sales jumped to\u00a0a record<\/a>\u00a0982,747 vehicles in the second quarter, up more than 40% from a year ago. While the company\u2019s sales in Europe have been sluggish thus far, it\u2019s mounting a major marketing push in the region, taking Volkswagen<\/a> AG\u2019s place as a main sponsor of the European Championship football tournament.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n