Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:abin Botsford/The Washington Post / Getty Images
Apps
Biotech & Health
mood
Image Credits:abin Botsford/The Washington Post / Getty Images
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
gismo
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
concealment
Robotics
Security
Social
distance
inauguration
TikTok
Transportation
speculation
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
television
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
reach Us
President Trump is slap 25 % duty on all car import to the United States , including from our quick North American neighbor . He ’s also point a 25 % tariff on certain parts used to build gondola . It ’s a decision that will likelysupercharge the costof new and used cars , but it ’s also a gift to Tesla , the company run by Elon Musk , his biggest financial supporter in the presidential election .
The new tariff regime come at an auspicious time for Tesla . The company is deal with the fallout of Musk ’s furtherance of far - right ideology and his involvement with theunpopularDepartment of Government Efficiency , which hassparkedprotestsaround the Earth . Tesla has recently rely on promotion and monetary value cut to further sale , and yet it still soldfewer EVs in 2024 than it did in 2023and is off to arough startin 2025 .
New tariffs could shift that calculus , at least in the U.S. Tesla builds all of its car destined for the North American marketplace in the U.S. at factories in Fremont , California , and Austin , Texas . That means none of the cars it sell in the U.S. will be subject to the 25 % fomite import revenue enhancement .
Tesla does spell around 20 % to 30 % of the components used to make those cars , so that will cause some cephalalgia . Muskadmittedon X that Tesla is “ NOT whole ” by these tariffs and claim they will have a “ important ” shock . But the troupe ’s long - digest exploit to establish local supply chain near its factories is now being pay back .
fundamentally every other auto manufacturer is in a bad position than Tesla , and the tariffs will especially sham competing electron volt . Around 80 % of the railway car Ford sells in the U.S. arebuilt domestically . But it makes the all - electrical Mustang Mach - E and the popular ( and far more affordable ) Maverick hybrid getaway truck in Mexico .
General Motors , meanwhile , progress its Blazer and Equinox EVs inMexico . Hyundai has find increasing success with its electric vehicles in the U.S. market , but nearly all of those are built in South Korea .
Much like Tesla , upstart electric automakers like Rivian and Lucid Motors wo n’t have to concern about the fomite importee tariff because they make their electron volt in Illinois and Arizona , respectively . Like Tesla , they import parts that will be open to tariff — but they are in a worse billet to absorb those costs since both companies are stilllosing bucket of money on every EV they sell .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
This sets up a scenario where other EVs may see price increase great than any Tesla might apply . That price legal separation could become even more of a boon to Tesla when it rolls outits orphic new lower - price EV this year — something the society has said will hap in the next few calendar month .
Of course , Trump announced these tariff after week of waffling on whether he would implement them in the first place . The president has claimed these will be “ lasting . ” But like so many other things he propose , that could always change .
