The Tesla website in China apparently eliminated a function that allowed customers to buy two automobile models that the company imports from the United States (EU), an apparent change for the car manufacturer as the commercial war between China and President Donald Trump intensifies.
Key data
The Tesla website in China eliminated the “request now” button for its Model S sedan and its SUV Model X, which are produced in the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, although customers can still buy vehicles if the company has an existing inventory.
However, it is not clear immediately when the button was removed, since a version of the website included the function from April 6.
The “Request now” button is still accessible to Model 3 and Model and Tesla vehicles, since they are assembled in Shanghai, China.
The elimination of the function seems to happen after China increased its tariffs on all US imports to 125% on Friday, an apparent response to the United States decision to point to all Chinese imports with a combined 145% tariff on Wednesday.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comments from Forbes.
How many cars does Tesla de China import?
Tesla sold 78,828 vehicles made in China in March, which represents an interannual decrease of 11.5 %, according to data from the Chinese passenger car association obtained by Reuters. While sales decreased year -on -year, deliveries of Model 3 and Model models and increased almost 157 % compared to the previous month.
What has Elon Musk said about Trump’s tariffs?
Although Musk has not directly criticized Trump’s tariffs to United States business partners, he wrote last month “is not unharmed” and that the “tariff impact on Tesla remains significant.” Musk said tariffs would affect Tesla’s pieces that are imported from other countries, such as China’s batteries, and pointed out that “the impact on costs is not trivial.” He has also fought with Trump’s commercial advisor, Peter Navarro, who defended how the Trump administration calculated its tariffs on the United States business partners, to which Musk said that Harvard’s “Doctorate in Economics of Harvard” of Navarro is something bad, not something good. Navarro, who also discussed the manufacture of Tesla in an interview with CNBC, referred to Tesla as a “car assembler” instead of a car manufacturer, since Musk said that Navarro was “truly idiot.” Musk also shared a video by economist Milton Friedman, who defended free trade and argued in favor of the benefits of importing goods.
Key history
On Friday morning, the Tariff Commission of the State Council of Beijing announced that it would increase tariffs on US imports from 84% to 125%, after indicating Chinese officials who would no longer participate in Trump’s growing commercial war. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who spoke during a meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, in Beijing, said: “In a tariff war nobody wins”, while urging the European Union to align with China to “oppose unilateral intimidation practices.” China’s tariff increase was preceded by a Trump ad on Wednesday, during which he imposed an additional 125% tariff on Chinese imports. This 125% joined an existing 20% tariff that Trump had already applied due to China’s role in the fentanyl crisis. Neither China nor the United States have given signs of giving in the increase in their tariffs, although Trump has said that he believed that Xi would negotiate, since he is “a very intelligent person, and I think we will end up reaching a very good agreement for both countries.”
This article was originally published by Forbes Us.
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