BYD Co led Chinese electric vehicle stocks lower in Hong Kong on Monday, as investors digested the auto giant’s sweeping price cuts of as much as 34% late last week…BYD offered discounts on 22 of its electric and plug-in hybrid models that it sells in China until the end of June, fanning the flames of a renewed sector-wide price war. While EV sales have overall reached new annual highs, growth has been decelerating…To kickstart sluggish consumer demand — made worse by China’s broader economic malaise — automakers in the world’s biggest car market have slashed sticker prices…Revisions by BYD include paring the price of its Seagull hatchback to 55,800 yuan ($7,780), a 20% reduction to a model that was already the carmaker’s cheapest and one that had garnered global attention for its sub-$10,000 price tag. The Seal dual-motor hybrid sedan saw the biggest price cut at 34%, or by 53,000 yuan to 102,800 yuan…In recent months, BYD has attempted to clear inventory of older models, including ones without the new driver assist features — which the automaker announced in February would be added to its models for free…BYD’s latest cuts are expected to have a knock-on effect, as rival automakers further trim their prices, slicing deeper into already thin margins…BYD is also gaining ground overseas. It sold more EVs in Europe than Tesla Inc. for the first time last month, overtaking the American brand that long led the continent’s EV segment…Thanks to BYD’s vertically integrated supply chain — it makes its own batteries and many of its own semiconductors — and domestic scale, which helps reduce production costs, the impact of China’s car price wars on its balance sheet is more muted than for some other automakers…Its gross margin for the quarter ended March 31 was around 20% versus about 16% for Tesla, for example. 

The House budget bill that narrowly passed in an early morning vote on Thursday would effectively put the brakes on a clean energy production boom in the United States spurred by subsidies enacted in 2022…Republican lawmakers' "one big beautiful bill" to carry out President Donald Trump's plan to cut taxes and boost spending on the military and border enforcement would end Biden-era tax credits for clean energy projects years sooner than planned in an earlier draft, rendering them unusable for most companies…Shares of clean energy companies tanked following the vote. Project developers and manufacturers that benefit from the subsidies said the rollback would shutter factories, kill jobs and increase electricity costs for U.S. households…The American Petroleum Institute praised the bill for "preserving competitive tax policies," as well as opening up more oil lease sales and eliminating Biden administration policies such as its fee on methane emissions for the oil and gas industry…Clean energy groups voiced dismay that the budget proposal passed with the support of over two dozen Republican representatives who had urged House leaders to preserve key Inflation Reduction Act provisions because their districts have benefited from clean energy and manufacturing investments…"Despite many reassurances that Members support domestic manufacturing, a vote for this bill was a vote to close U.S. factories and concede manufacturing jobs of the most important energy resource of the 21st century to China," said Michael Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers For America Coalition…It also strengthened restrictions on the use of tax credits for any project backed by Chinese companies or using materials produced in China under a provision targeting “foreign entities of concern." China dominates all aspects of the clean energy supply chain and the restrictions effectively eliminate the ability of most projects to claim the credits.

Officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo are optimistic they can reach a deal with Washington next month to secure U.S investment in critical minerals alongside support to end a Rwandan-backed rebellion in the country's east, the Financial Times reported on Sunday…Congolese minerals such as tungsten, tantalum and tin, which Kinshasa has long accused neighbouring Rwanda of illegally exploiting, could be exported legitimately to Rwanda for processing under the terms of a peace deal being negotiated by the U.S., Reuters reported last week…Congo's Mines Minister Kizito Pakabomba said an agreement with the U.S. would help "diversify our partnerships", reducing the country's dependence on China for the exploitation of its vast mineral riches, the FT reported…Washington is pushing for a peace agreement between the two sides to be signed this summer, accompanied by minerals deals aimed at bringing billions of dollars of Western investment to the region, Massad Boulos, U.S. President Donald Trump's senior adviser for Africa, said earlier this month.