So even in this era of rising trade tensions between Washington
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.
China classifies pickup trucks as trucks and not as passenger vehicles, a category
that in the country encompasses cars, sport utility vehicles and minivans.
Both have modest expectations compared with the United States, where nearly 2.7 million pickup trucks were sold last
year, almost eight times as many as in China last year, according to LMC Automotive, a global consulting firm.
“I like this model because it is very masculine and powerful,” Mr. Liu said, adding
that his friends “start to lean toward Ford when they plan to change their cars.”
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.
As President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China meet in Florida this week to address growing trade tensions,
Ford’s interest in sending American-made pickup trucks to China underlines the debate’s complexities.
It sets a much higher corporate fuel-economy average — 38 miles per gallon — than the United States for all the cars, minivans
and S. U.V.s that each automaker sells in the country.