Elon Musk, the head of Tesla, claims that he opposes US tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles ( EVs ), just as President Joe Biden has quadrupled the country’s EV import taxes.
Tesla and I both requested these tariffs, the multi-billionaire said via video link at a engineering conference in Paris.
Mr. Musk’s statements conflict with one he warned in January that if there were no trade barriers, Foreign car manufacturers do “demolish” competitors from different nations.
Last week, the White House said new measures, including a 100% border tariff on EVs from China, were a response to unfair policies and intended to protect US jobs.
” In truth, I was surprised when they were announced. Things that restrict the exchange of goods or misrepresent the market are no good, according to Mr. Musk on Thursday.
With no taxes or polite support, Tesla competes fairly well in the Chinese market. I’m in favour of no taxes”, he added.
Mr. Biden has continued to impose tariffs on China that his predecessor, Donald Trump, put in place, while putting more pressure on Beijing through business stress.
Last year, Mr Biden vowed to not let China “unfairly control the market” for electric cars and other essential items, including batteries, laptop chips and simple medical supplies.
China stated that it would oppose the tax increases and may get retaliatory measures.
This week, China launched an anti-dumping probe into imports of a widely used plastic from the US, EU, Taiwan and Japan.
The Ministry of Commerce’s news to look into exports of the polyoxymethylene copolymer used in cars and electronics was seen as a sign that China would retaliate in its industry disputes with the US and Europe.
Additionally, China announced this week that it would impose tariffs of up to 25 % on cars with large motors imported from the EU and the US.
The China Chamber of Commerce to the Union claimed that “insiders” had informed it of the possible walk.
The EU’s trade policy body, the European Commission (EC ), has set itself a 4 July deadline to decide whether to impose controls on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles.