The U.S. trade representative’s office has denied a request from Elon Musk’s Tesla to waive tariffs on car parts manufactured in China.
CNBC reports that Tesla’s request to waive tariffs on Chinese-manufactured vehicle parts has been denied by the U.S. trade representative’s office. The components in question were a center screen and car computer which are included with Model 3 vehicles; the company was denied a previous request in May for an autopilot “brain” component.
Tesla was seeking an exemption from the 25 percent tariff placed on Chinese goods by the Trump administration but appears to have failed so far. Tesla stock briefly dropped by 1 percent following the news but rebounded to trade approximately 1.5 percent higher later that day, likely bumped up following CEO Elon Musk’s claims at the company’s annual shareholder meeting this week.
During the meeting, Musk stated that the electric car manufacturer’s sales had improved and that he believed they had a “good shot” at a recorder quarter in 2019. Musk claimed earlier this year that the reported drop in January sales was because “people literally don’t have the money to buy the car,” not because there is no demand for it. At the same time, employee morale at the company is reportedly tanking.
Musk now claims that 90 percent of orders coming in are from customers who aren’t holding a reservation for the Tesla Model 3. Musk did, however, admit that profitably and growth are a challenge for the firm. “Profitability is always challenging if you’re a fast-growing company,” Musk stated. But he added that he believes that Tesla could be “cash-flow positive” soon despite high growth rates.
Read more about the shareholders meeting here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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