Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he does not support President Biden’s recently announced tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
“Neither Tesla nor I asked for these tariffs,” Musk said in response to a question from CNBC’s Karen Tso during a question-and-answer session at the VivaTech conference here on Thursday. “In fact, we were surprised when they were announced.”
The Biden administration announced last week that it would impose a 100% tariff on Chinese-made EV imports to the United States to stop cheap Chinese-made EVs from flooding the U.S. market. The White House says Beijing’s subsidies encourage companies to overproduce cheap clean energy products, such as solar panels and EVs, beyond domestic demand.
Tesla has struggled this year due to an aging electric vehicle fleet, weak consumer demand for its cars and increased global competition, especially in China. Its first-quarter revenue fell the most since 2012 and its shares are expected to fall nearly 30% by 2024.
“Tesla is very competitive in the Chinese market without tariffs or special assistance,” Musk said Thursday. “I’m in favor of no tariffs.”
Musk added that he also doesn’t agree with tax incentives for EVs.
“I’m in favor of eliminating tariffs and incentives on electric vehicles and oil and gas,” the Tesla CEO said.
Musk’s comments Thursday came after he suggested earlier this year that Chinese EV companies would outperform competitors from other countries if there were no trade restrictions.
“Frankly, I think that if trade barriers weren’t put in place, it would pretty much destroy most other businesses in the world,” Musk said on the company’s earnings call in January.
Earlier, when asked for his view on whether Biden’s 100% tariffs would give the green light to lower-cost cars to hit the market, Musk was interrupted and the audience was forced to wait several minutes for him to come back online.
Some attendees walked out of the dome, where the Q&A session was being live-streamed.
