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Musk, Tesla face trade war blowback

8 1
12.04.2025
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Technology


Technology

 

The Big Story

Musk, Tesla caught in Trump trade war

President Trump’s escalating trade war with China is putting Elon Musk and Tesla in a tight spot as the electric vehicle manufacturer faces climbing tariffs in one of its most important markets.

© Pool via AP

Tesla suspended new orders of two models on its Chinese website Friday as Beijing raised tariffs on American goods to 125 percent in the nation’s ongoing trade fight with the U.S.

While Tesla did not provide a reason for suspending the orders, the move may signal Musk — one of Trump’s fiercest allies — and his company are bracing for the effects of the president’s trade war.

“The fact that they’re still selling the cars, but not importing them points to one obvious conclusion: The tariff impacts are having an effect on Tesla’s international sales,” said Maxwell Shulman, research analyst with Beacon Policy Advisors.

The intensifying trade war puts the business interests of Tesla and Musk — who gave millions to reelect Trump and campaigned for him in key swing states — at a crossroads with the president, who is not letting up on the tit-for-tat with China.

“It’s not even like the politics helped him [Musk] fend off these tariffs that hurt his company,” said Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University's Tech Policy Institute.

“It’s almost like it’s the worst of all worlds that he put his neck out there, lost support from the domestic consumers of Tesla and now, because [the] tariffs are having this dismal effect in his other big market, which is China.”

Tesla is now among the........

© The Hill