Plans for components for the Tesla Semi truck and Cybercab (also known as the Robotaxi) to be shipped from China have been suspended after United States president Donald Trump raised tariffs on goods from China, Reuters has reported. This could disrupt the EV maker’s plans to commence mass production of the two models, the news wire said, citing its source.
The news wire was informed by its source that Tesla was prepared to absorb the additional costs that would result from the 34% tariff on Chinese-made goods initially imposed on April 2, but the EV maker would no longer be able to absorb costs when the tariff was raised beyond that point, thus leading to the suspension of parts shipping plans.
Tesla was scheduled to begin receiving shipments of parts with the aim of starting trial production of the Semi and Cybercab/Robotaxi in October, and this was to be followed by the start of mass production in 2026. It was not certain how long the suspension of shipment would last, the Reuters source said.
Yesterday, Tesla stopped taking orders for the Model S and Model X EVs on its Chinese website, Reuters reported separately. These models are made in the United States, and imported into China.
On April 4, China announced its own 34% tariff on goods imported from the US, and this was followed by Trump threatening to raise tariffs on China to 104%. Last week, China announced that it would raise tariffs on good imported from the US from 34% to 84%, and Trump responded with an additional 21% tariff that brought the total imposed upon China to 125%.
Today, Trump said that he might temporarily exempt the automotive industry from tariffs previously imposed in order to allow automakers additional time to adjust their supply chains to adapt. The dozens of countries faced with individualised tariffs of up to 50% would instead get a baseline 10% tariff for 90 days to allow time for negotiations, though China was not granted the same, and instead got a 145% tariff.
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