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Comment by highfrequency | Hacker News Reader

You can bet that the 100% tariff on BYD cars in the US isn’t going anywhere with Musk so influential in the government. A $14k EV would be a huge threat to Tesla’s market cap.

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>You can bet that the 100% tariff on BYD cars in the US isn’t going anywhere with Musk...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq55zd2xjreo

>Musk opposes US tariffs on Chinese electric cars. "In fact, I was surprised when they were announced. Things that inhibit freedom of exchange or distort the market are not good," Mr Musk said on Thursday. “Tesla competes quite well in the market in China with no tariffs and no deferential support. I’m in favour of no tariffs," he added.

Very little of what this administration says matches their actions.

it really depends on the market share of tesla in china

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/teslas...

and it's changing

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/07/tesla-car-sales-in-china-fal...

That was in May of last year. A lot has changed since then.

2025...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-joins-legal-battle-agai...

>Tesla TSLA has joined BMW and several Chinese manufacturers in challenging EU tariffs on China-made electric vehicles at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), per a court filing.

That article is about EU tariffs, not US tariffs. Notably the EU tariffs affect him; that's why he's opposed to them.

Musk says a lot of things that are not true. Hard to know if that was a serious take.

> 23 May, 2024

No recent evidence of Musk's position, but Tesla just last month opposed China tariffs in the EU.

Musk seems significantly more unhinged today than he did nine months ago.

even if the tariff did disappear, i can't imagine BYD is going to be too eager to get into the US market. there's plenty of other places to sell cars.

They will eventually build in Mexico (or the US South) and we'll get them here.

I think rest of world will gobble these up though, especially with retaliatory tariffs or straight up import bans on Teslas on the table from aggrieved trading partners.

I'm just waiting for the inevitable fallout that seems to come with most trump advisors to buy BYD stock.

Let's not blame the current administration for tariffs that Biden imposed.

OTOH, theoretically, could we produce a decently priced EV with US materials only? If we go all-in on automation, could one factory worker do the job that many do today, thereby reducing costs? If we can head in that direction, I think Elon wants to compete in that kind of market, not bog it down with regulation.

Sure. Price every good from not-USA 1000x and let’s see what happens.

I thought the republicans were in favor of a free market, but it seems more like those with power don’t mind putting some weight on their side of the scale, since they own the scale and the bank.

> I think Elon wants to compete in that kind of market, not bog it down with regulation

Be careful about any phrase that starts with “I think {person} wants to…” especially if person is rich/powerful. Judge people based on their actions, not the facade they put on.

We already know what will happen. The US goods will be priced to match the price of foreign goods with tariffs and zero money will be spent investing in future production capacity in the US.

We know this will happen because it is what always happens when countries impose punitive tariffs on foreign goods. Later, the domestic industry collapses and the tariffs are lifted.

> I think Elon wants to compete in that kind of market, not bog it down with regulation.

Exactly what market is that? Where Tesla has 0 responsibility for any issues / defects / deaths-from-FSD? Sure, that market he wants to play in - it has only upside for him.

The one where he has to compete on price/features/whatever, and he can't make rude comments or cut people off who he doesn't like? Please pass the bong..

Elon is a direct beneficiary of government subsidies on EVs. He wants regulations if it benefits his profitability.

To me, tariffs from the orange man are political theater and appeal to his base, and subsequently sell it via media.

What’s to stop manufacturers of goods from shipping it from a country that is not China, laundering it through a different country. Paper work for container says, “imported from {non tariff restricted country}” at the ship yard.

Cheap Chinese goods still flood the market. Orange man gets to say he has been hard on China via tariff war.

In fact, the tariffs on BYD cars were imposed by the Biden administration.

Yes, Biden increased by $18 billion the $300 billion tariffs that Trump first put in place.

> The new tariff rates – which range from 100% on electric vehicles, to 50% for solar components, to 25% for all other sectors – will take place over the next two years.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/14/politics/biden-tariffs-chines... May 14, 2024

Yes, and this discussion is about electric vehicles in particular:

> Electric vehicles imported from China will see their tariffs more than quadrupled from 27.5% to 100%

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