Trump tariffs backfire on Elon Musk, as Tesla pulls U.S.-built models from China

Source: Fortune

Trump tariffs backfire on Elon Musk, as Tesla pulls U.S.-built models from China

Christiaan Hetzner
Fri, April 11, 2025 at 2:18 PM EDT 2 min read

• Tesla has stopped taking orders for the Model S and Model X in China, which now face retaliatory 125% import duties levied by Beijing. Local customers are only able to choose from new cars still in inventory at its showrooms across the country. Fortunately, they are not in high demand so the damage to Tesla is minimal.

The Trump administration’s trade war with China backfired for the president’s senior advisor Elon Musk when Tesla was forced to pull two cars from its biggest growth market.

His electric vehicle manufacturer is no longer accepting orders for its premium Model S sedan and sibling Model X crossover. Both built exclusively in California for worldwide export, the duo are subject to the new 125% import duty Beijing slapped on U.S. goods in retaliation for Trump’s own similarly punitive tariff imposed this week.

Sales of the two models are now only possible from the dwindling inventory of vehicles Tesla already shipped from its Fremont plant near San Francisco to Chinese showrooms across the country.

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Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tariffs-backfire-elon-musk-181817796.html