So even in this era of rising trade tensions between Washington<br />and Beijing, Mr. Liu, 38, a chemicals recycling entrepreneur in southeastern China, chose to wait for the chance to buy what might be the most American of rides: a Ford F-150 Raptor pickup truck imported from the United States.<br />China classifies pickup trucks as trucks and not as passenger vehicles, a category<br />that in the country encompasses cars, sport utility vehicles and minivans.<br />Both have modest expectations compared with the United States, where nearly 2.7 million pickup trucks were sold last<br />year, almost eight times as many as in China last year, according to LMC Automotive, a global consulting firm.<br />“I like this model because it is very masculine and powerful,” Mr. Liu said, adding<br />that his friends “start to lean toward Ford when they plan to change their cars.”<br />Ford Motor is putting the premium version of the F-150 on sale on Saturday in a country where pickup trucks are virtually unheard-of except on farms.<br />As President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China meet in Florida this week to address growing trade tensions,<br />Ford’s interest in sending American-made pickup trucks to China underlines the debate’s complexities.<br />It sets a much higher corporate fuel-economy average — 38 miles per gallon — than the United States for all the cars, minivans<br />and S. U.V.s that each automaker sells in the country.
