There has been a lot of speculation over how Elon Musk ’s faithful amour in the Modern Trump judicature could affect the circumstances of his vast line empire . On the one bridge player , President Trump could ease the regulative environs for Musk ’s companies and hand him more government contracts . Conversely , marketplace seen as favourable to the EV industry but uncongenial towards the new government ’s politics , including cost snub spearhead by Musk himself , are already showing signs ofsouring on Tesla .
We are now seeing another potentially adverse side gist as America ’s bighearted alien adversary , China , see using Tesla as a cat’s-paw in trade dialogue . That is the trade - off with getting close to Trump , it seems .
Tesla gondola sales were flat in 2024 , and to maintain its astronomic rating , Musk has reckon the car maker ’s entire hereafter on autonomy , both in the form of self - drive auto and humanoid robot , seeing them as a much more lucrative opportunity than the low - gross profit margin traditional commercial enterprise of deal cars . He now spends most of Tesla ’s net profit call talking up a future in which independent fleet of “ Cybercabs ” will roam the streets and replace human drivers . The companionship has easy been roll out its Full - Self Driving ( FSD ) tech through an optional MBD - on for current Tesla owner , with plans to commence testing afully self-reliant hack servicein Austin sometime this year .
China is considering using Tesla as leverage in U.S. trade negotiations.Unsplash/Ricardo
China is Tesla ’s second biggest market , however , and the land has heretofore not allowed it to start out roll out autonomous technology there . President Trump ’s late move to put 10 % tariffs on goodness exported from China has created an opportunity for that land to employ the chair ’s confidant as purchase . From theFinancial Times :
Taiwanese authorization are reflect using the approval of Tesla ’s autonomous - force licence as a bargaining chip in craft negotiation with Trump , said two of the citizenry with knowledge of the time lag , adding that this was the main reason for the hold - up in granting the permit .
The approval could still fall before long , depending on how trade negotiations developed , one of the people sum up . But another said that some people at the company believed a speedy consent was unlikely unless there was “ a major breakthrough or conceding ” in trade talk .
President Trump has sound out that China contend below the belt in the global thriftiness by heavily subsidizing industries that export abroad , and he has also sought to bear on the state to crack down on fentanyl dispersion .
In China , competitors like BYD have pelt along ahead of Tesla selling ultra - affordable eV for the masses , meaning the country does not necessitate it and can apply it as a cat’s-paw . President Trump has a useful reason to support Musk — his super PAC war chest has avail the president handle power in the GOP attacking disloyal politicians , and Musk was behind DOGE ’s state of war on DEI and government elites that Trump feels have always been against him .
China does not presently allow Tesla to prepare on driving footage there , and the U.S. does not permit the society to train in China because of exportation limitation . Musk sound out it has been trying to train itself for a rollout in the commonwealth instead by train its AI system on publicly available videos of Chinese street that Tesla can access from the U.S.
Musk has anticipate full self-sufficiency , in which passengers do not involve to operate a vehicle at all , going back years , but has systematically pretermit his own deadlines . Even now , Musk is moving the goalpost by saying full autonomy will not be available to U.S. drivers this yr , but rather they will be capable to access a more limited rideshare Robert William Service in fixed service field like Austin . It is important to keep that in mind here . And we do not even know that Tesla can achieve full self-reliance in the first place , regulatory approvals withstanding . It has not actually present the exploit at scale without a human number one wood at the bicycle like Waymo .
On another front , Musk has strangely been in favor of rolling back EV buyer incentives in the U.S. including tax credits that have benefited his party greatly . Cynically , critic conceive he is supportive of the move because Tesla would be less adversely impacted than competitors like Rivian that are still far from lucrativeness . The move take a chance slowing adoption of galvanizing vehicles in the U.S. at a time when Chinese instrumentalist are taking the lead .
It is all Musk ’s public , and we are just live it . How much of the next four years of policy movement will be attributable to his want ?
ChinaElon Muskpresident trumpTESLA
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