Elon Musk’s electric carmaker Tesla has warned it and other US exporters could be harmed by countries retaliating to Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.
Mr Musk is a close ally of the US president and is leading efforts to reduce the size of the federal government.
But in an unsigned letter addressed to a US trade representative, Tesla said that while it “supports” fair trade it was concerned that US exporters were “exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US trade actions”.
The letter was dated the same day that Trump hosted an event at the White House where he promised to buy a Tesla in a show of support for Mr Musk.
Tesla’s share price has dropped 40% since the start of the year. While some have argued that Mr Musk’s alignment with the Trump administration is hurting its brand, market analysts say the share fall is more about worries over Tesla meeting production targets and a drop in sales over the past year.
In the letter, Tesla said it was making changes to its supply chains to find as many local suppliers for its cars and batteries so it was less reliant on foreign markets.
“None the less,” it warned, “even with aggressive localisation of the supply chain, certain parts and components are difficult or impossible to source within the US.”
The US president has imposed an additional 20% tariff on all imports from China, prompting Beijing to respond with retaliatory levies including on cars. China is Tesla’s second biggest market after the US.
“For example, past trade actions by the United States have resulted in immediate reactions by the targeted countries, including increased tariffs on EVs imported into those countries,” the letter reads.
The EU and Canada have both threatened sweeping retaliations for tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US, which went into effect earlier this week.
Demonstrators have targeted Tesla showrooms in recent weeks in protest against Mr Musk’s cost-cutting role in Trump’s administration, where he is head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
Earlier this week, Trump hosted an event at the White House where he said people protesting against Tesla should be labelled domestic terrorists, while sitting in the driver’s seat of a brand new red Tesla that he said he planned to buy.
Trump said demonstrators were “harming a great American company”, and anyone using violence against the electric carmaker would “go through hell”.
