According to Reuters, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, participated in the "European Tech Innovation Exhibition" held in Paris, France via video link on May 23rd. During the event, he expressed his opposition to the United States imposing tariffs on Chinese electric cars to technology investors.
Reuters mentioned that this month, the Biden administration imposed new tariffs on a range of Chinese imports, including electric cars, raising tariffs on Chinese imported electric cars from 25% to 100%. During the event on the 23rd, Musk stated that he does not support measures that distort the market.
"Tesla and I did not request these tariffs, in fact, I was surprised when they were announced," Musk said via video link. "Restricting trade freedom or distorting the market is not good." He also stated that without tariffs and other factors, "Tesla's competitiveness in the Chinese market is quite strong," and "I support not imposing tariffs."
Reuters also noted that this stance is in stark contrast to his warning in January of this year. During an analyst conference call after the release of Tesla's financial results early this year, he said that trade barriers needed to be set against China, otherwise "most other car companies in the world" would be destroyed.
On May 14th, local time, the White House announced tariffs on a range of Chinese goods including solar panels, electric cars, computer chips, and medical products. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated that the U.S. has abused the 301 tariff review process for domestic political reasons, further increasing tariffs on some Chinese products, politicizing trade issues, and manipulating tools, which is typical political manipulation. China is strongly dissatisfied with this. The WTO has long ruled that 301 tariffs violate WTO rules. Instead of correcting it, the U.S. persists in its mistakes.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also stated that the U.S. continues to politicize trade issues and further increase tariffs on China, which is adding mistakes on top of mistakes and will significantly increase the cost of imported goods, making American companies and consumers bear more losses and causing American consumers to pay a higher price. According to calculations by Moody's, American consumers bear 92% of the cost of the tariffs imposed on China, with American households spending an additional $1,300 per year. The U.S.'s protectionist measures will also cause greater disruption to the security and stability of the global supply chain. We have noticed that several European leaders have expressed that imposing tariffs is the wrong approach to undermining global trade. We urge the U.S. to abide by WTO rules and immediately lift the tariffs imposed on China, and China will take all necessary measures to defend its own rights and interests.
