Source: Finance Association
① Although the US government is preparing to once again wave a “tariff stick” on strategic industries such as electric vehicles in China, Musk, CEO of US electric vehicle giant Tesla, did not agree with this act. ② On Thursday EST, Musk publicly stated that he did not support President Biden's recent announcement of tariffs on electric vehicles made in China.
Although the US government is preparing to once again wave a “tariff stick” on strategic industries such as electric vehicles in China, the US electric vehicle giants$Tesla (TSLA.US)$CEO Musk, however, did not approve of this act.
On Thursday EST, Musk publicly stated that he did not support President Biden's recent announcement to impose tariffs on electric vehicles made in China.
Musk: Tesla is not asking for tariffs
On May 14, the US White House issued a statement saying that the Biden administration plans to drastically raise import tariffs on Chinese goods worth 18 billion US dollars in accordance with section 301 of the US Trade Law. The additional tariffs point to strategic areas that the US is concerned about, including electric vehicles, lithium batteries, photovoltaic cells, etc.
A spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce said on the 14th that due to domestic political considerations, the US side abused the 301 tariff review procedure to further raise the 301 tariffs imposed on some Chinese products and politicize and instrumentalize economic and trade issues, which is typical political manipulation. China is strongly dissatisfied with this.
On Thursday EST, during the Q&A session at VivaTech, Europe's biggest technology event, Musk said in response to questions:
“Neither Tesla nor I have asked for these tariffs... In fact, I was surprised when they announced (the tariff plan).”
Tesla's competitive performance in the Chinese market is very good
Tesla has been struggling since this year. The company is facing increasing competitive pressure globally (particularly in the Chinese market), which also made the company's first-quarter revenue decline the biggest since 2012. Since the beginning of 2024, Tesla's stock price has dropped by nearly 30% cumulatively.
However, on Thursday, Musk said, “Tesla competes very well in the Chinese market without tariffs and preferential support. I am in favor of not imposing tariffs.”
Musk added that he also did not agree to tax benefits for electric cars.
It is worth mentioning that Musk's latest statement seems to have changed from his earlier this year. At the beginning of this year, Musk said that without trade restrictions, Chinese electric vehicle companies would crush rivals elsewhere.
editor/tolk