U.S. Subsidies Fuel Boom in Global Auto Trade

SINGAPORE—Auto exports from Europe and Asia are surging as the U.S. and other countries lavish subsidies on electric vehicles and dealers replenish inventories that even now aren’t back to prepandemic levels. 

The boom in autos contrasts with broader weakness in exports as the global economy slows. The trend offers a glimpse of how the West’s embrace of industrial policies aimed at stimulating domestic manufacturing and reducing the use of fossil fuels is causing wrinkles in patterns of world trade.