Its all about presentation. Politicians routinely win by approaching Americans with “a vision for the future.”
There are economic constructs.
The choice here was plain stupid. We are screwing our nation into the ground ignorantly.
Except the stock is up for the day …
Politico ran a story this morning saying that Musk will be leaving DOGE soon. Which is not just a “stop digging” moment for the brand, but it also means that Tesla will start getting more of the attention of its CEO during a challenging time.
Too little too late and the wrong man for the job.
All we see is red when he appears.
Before the close there were “leaks” stating that the baseline across the board tariff would be 10% with a few exceptions.
Teslas are made in USA and should have advantages vs imports.
Advantage over some, yes. Same as some Honda models, better than most others. Not 100% by any stretch.
The vast majority of Tesla’s part content is produced within the US and Canada. Tesla holds a tie for first place with Honda. The Model 3 Long Range AWD and RWD are in first place alongside the Honda Ridgeline AWD TrailSport, with 75% of their parts being created in North American.
Tesla also ties for second place at 70% with the Model 3 Performance and Model Ys, alongside a good chunk of Honda’s other vehicles.
The Model S and Model X are closely following at 65% and 60% respectively. It is still more than many other auto manufacturers, some of whom are sporting 1% North American part rates.
I suspect the biggest risk to Tesla from the tariffs is more indirect.
Elon Musk is highly influential in the U.S. government, and is deeply reliant on China for his personal wealth. About half of Tesla’s global production takes place in China. About 40% of their sales are there as well.
So Tesla is a rather obvious lever for China to pull on if it wants to try to change U.S. tariff policy. In years past, China probably needed Tesla as much as Tesla needed them - their industrial policy depended on getting innovative Western technology companies to set up shop there, Tesla included. Nowadays, though, the domestic Chinese auto manufacturers have pretty much caught up to Tesla (or arguably have exceeded them)…and with Tesla opening Brandenburg, they don’t offer China much export benefit any more (Tesla’s MIC cars were probably the bulk of Chinese auto exports to Europe for a while there).
So the bigger risk to Tesla is less the tariffs themselves, IMHO, and more whether China decides to apply some pressure on GigaShanghai to try to put some pressure on Trump.