WASHINGTON: US automaker Tesla has warned that it and other major American exporters are exposed to retaliatory tariffs that could be leveled in response to President Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive use of tariffs.
\nThe Tesla comments reflect those of many US businesses concerned by Trump\u2019s tariffs, but is notable because it is from Tesla.
\nTesla CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, has been leading the White House effort to shrink the size of the federal government. The billionaire heads up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
\nThe comments were made in a letter to the US Trade Representative\u2019s Office and available on the office\u2019s web site. Dated Tuesday, it is among hundreds sent by companies to the office about US trade policy.
\nIt is not clear who at Tesla wrote the letter, which is unsigned but is on a company letterhead. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
\nTesla says it is important to ensure that the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to address trade issues \u201cdo not inadvertently harm US companies.\u201d
\nIt says it is eager to avoid retaliation of the type it faced in prior trade disputes, which resulted in increased tariffs on electric vehicles imported into countries subject to US tariffs.
\n\u201cUS exporters are inherently exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US trade actions,\u201d Tesla said in the letter. \u201cFor example, past trade actions by the United States have resulted in immediate reactions by the targeted countries, including increased tariffs on EVs imported into those countries.\u201d
\nTrump is considering imposing significant tariffs on vehicles and parts made around the world in early April.
\nTesla warns that even with aggressive localization of the supply chain, \u201ccertain parts and components are difficult or impossible to source within the United States.\u201d
\nThe automaker adds that companies will \u201cbenefit from a phased approach that enables them to prepare accordingly and ensure appropriate supply chain and compliance measures are taken.\u201d
\n\u201cAs a US manufacturer and exporter, Tesla encourages USTR to consider the downstream impacts of certain proposed actions taken to address unfair trade practices,\u201d the EV maker says.
\nAutos Drive America, a trade group representing major foreign automakers including Toyota, Volkswagen , BMW, Honda and Hyundai , warned USTR in separate comments that imposing \u201cbroad-based tariffs will disrupt production at US assembly plants.\u201d
\nThe group added, \u201cautomakers cannot shift their supply chains overnight, and cost increases will inevitably lead to some combination of higher consumer prices, fewer models offered to consumers and shut-down US production lines, leading to potential job losses across the supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: US automaker Tesla has warned that it and other major American exporters are exposed to retaliatory tariffs that could be leveled in response to President Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive use of tariffs. The Tesla comments reflect those of many US businesses concerned by Trump\u2019s tariffs, but is notable because it is from Tesla. Tesla CEO …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":78383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78390,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78370\/revisions\/78390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}