19 ms·

Only Teslas exempt from new auto tariffs thanks to 85% domestic content rule

645 points by abduhl 1y ago

Spooky23 1y ago
Now they need a special insurance subsidy to offset the extra costs for losses.
readthenotes1 1y ago
Most positive take: Someone asked what is the car model with the most American parts right now? We will make everyone meet that benchmark or better.
Animats 1y ago
The CEO of Ford is very critical of Trump. But Ford can probably get the USA content for gas-powered Mustangs up from 80% to 85%. The electric version is made in Mexico, but once Ford's Blue Oval City plant in Tennessee comes up in 2027, that will move to the US. Of course, who knows where Trump will be by then.
- bix6 1y ago
  How long do you think that 5% will take them?
  - Animats 1y ago
    I have no idea, but I'll bet there are people in Dearborn, Michigan working on that right now.
JohnFen 1y ago
[flagged]
Loughla 1y ago
[flagged]
- Henchman21 1y ago
  Right so let’s give credit to the fine people who work at Tesla, not the wealthy child who swooped in at the end and claimed all the work as his. In other words: literally anyone except Elon Musk.
  - recursive 1y ago
    The end?
  - kcb 1y ago
    Musk became CEO of Tesla when their only car was an electric converted Lotus...
    - carpo 1y ago
      Yeah, I think we should try to separate his business acumen from his nut-case personality. He can be a successful businessman AND a fucking prick.
      - leptons 1y ago
        Who made his initial fortune as an illegal immigrant.
        Henchman21 1y ago
        Inherited wealth means nothing eh?
      - Henchman21 1y ago
        Why are those separable to you? They aren’t at all to me. One informs the other at all times.
- HappySweeney 1y ago
  There is no way this is a coincidence.
- 1y ago
arghandugh 1y ago
[flagged]
rectang 1y ago
I have zero faith in "free market" ideologues, because what we actually get when they gain power is just favoritism for "free market" ideologues.
- aswanson 1y ago
  Same. This era has exposed them as the shameless hypocrites they are.
  - resters 1y ago
    There is not and has never been any trace of free speech or free market "ideology" from Trump. Perhaps as a talking point but never in any policy or action. Trump is the anti-libertarian, severely authoritarian and moving things toward a centrally planned economy!
  - kristopolous 1y ago
    It was always about power accumulation. Integrity, honesty, and principles is literally what they mean by the word "woke" when they harass people for being it.
    - akoboldfrying 1y ago
      > Integrity, honesty, and principles is literally what they mean by the word "woke" No it isn't, and saying things like this just adds noise. What they mean by the word "woke" is a worldview that delegitimises the things they aspire to or worked hard for (status based on power based on individual agency), and prioritises other forms of social currency (victimisation by external forces) in a way they find performative.
      - dboreham 1y ago
        Didn't you just say exactly the same thing as the parent comment?
        1y ago
joshdavham 1y ago
This is crony capitalism.
- throwaway48476 1y ago
  It is but it always has been. I would also appreciate if the big 3 American car companies had 85% American content.
  - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
    > would also appreciate if the big 3 American car companies had 85% American content Versus 80%? Those five percentage points are worth a double-digit tariff.
    - throwaway48476 1y ago
      5 percentage points should be easy enough for them to change then by moving a few supply chains.
      - kasey_junk 1y ago
        So make it 90% and don’t give Tesla the special treatment.
        moralestapia 1y ago
        [flagged]
        JumpCrisscross 1y ago
        > Then the exact same discussion will come up with a different number No? The point is there is no reason for the number 85 other than benefiting Tesla. The metacognitive question should be how one should estimate that variable in a way which balances disruption with incentivising the desired outcome.
mystraline 1y ago
Used cars are ALSO exempt. And, all used goods bought at secondhand stores are tariff-exempt as well. And so is FB marketplace, Craigslist, and others. My protest is meager, but effective for us - we just will buy used and use 'Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle' where we can. EnEnough of us doing that will slow and hamper the economy (read: rich peoples' money).
- toast0 1y ago
  Are you saying if I import a used car, I don't have to pay tariffs? Factory delivery programs would become a lot more popular. Or are you just saying that if I buy a car that's already in the US and has already had any import tariffs due at time of import paid, I won't have to pay them again? That's a lot less interesting.
  - Aloisius 1y ago
    Yes. Volvo has had a program for decades where they fly you to Sweden where drive a vehicle around long enough for it to be "used", buy it then they ship it over to the US to avoid US new car import tariffs.
    - bushido 1y ago
      Very surprised to learn that this is real https://www.volvocars.com/us/l/osd-tourist/ https://www.volvocars.com/us/l/osd-tourist/ Pretty cool. Lots more info on reddit threads.
      - yareally 1y ago
        Audi, BMW and Mercedes did this as well until a few years ago. https://www.capitalone.com/cars/learn/finding-the-right-car/what-to-know-about-european-cardelivery-programs/3684 https://www.capitalone.com/cars/learn/finding-the-right-car/...
      - iamtheworstdev 1y ago
        looks like you have to pay VAT?
amelius 1y ago
[flagged]
- gjsman-1000 1y ago
  Nonsense. Does anyone seriously think the military is going to defy SCOTUS at the end of the four years? Does anyone seriously think Jan 6th, bad as it was, was going to end the republic[0]? Such hyperbole is dangerous at best when people take it seriously. [0] Especially because what it tells our enemies. Iran, take out just this one specific building, and America is done for!
  - rco8786 1y ago
    > Does anyone seriously think Jan 6th, bad as it was, was going to end the republic? Literally everyone sat in fear for our republic that day as we watched that happened. What were you doing?
  - Spooky23 1y ago
    What did the military do on Jan 6? They stood back and did nothing. That wasn’t an actual coup because some Capitol Police had the balls to do their job and Vice President Pence is a patriot. I’m sure the next time around anyone “untrustworthy” in the police force will have been removed, and the national Guard in surrounding states will have routine training in Alaska.
    - gjsman-1000 1y ago
      > They stood back and did nothing There's no reason to have a full allergic reaction to a mosquito bite.
      - cogman10 1y ago
        The mob was literally minutes away from congressional people. They further kept those same congresspeople surrounded and locked up for hours until Trump called them off. Ashley Babbitt died because she broken through the last barrier between the mob and congress. Had this mob been armed (and there were plans of being armed that were ultimately scuttled), it could have been a blood bath. There was only a handful of LEO between the mob and congress. This wasn't a "mosquito bite". Now, what would have changed if the mob had their way with congress or the supreme court? Who knows. For the SC, it'd have given trump the ability to put in more yes men to rubber stamp his election loss narrative. For congress, the plan was literally to have congressional collaborators challenge the validity of the election (which still happened) to take power. If many democrat reps lost their life, then yes, congress could have rubberstamped a trump victory. Very few republicans stood up to trump or his plans. "What could they have done", the answer is kill a bunch of congress people in the opposing party to empower their party. This was a big deal.
plaurens 1y ago
Curious about Rivian…
cjbenedikt 1y ago
Won't safe his Chinese sales though
- wahern 1y ago
  Tesla builds Model 3s and Ys in their Shanghai factory using almost entirely domestically sourced components, and even exports a fair number from there. But perhaps the trade war will reduce demand.
  - iamtheworstdev 1y ago
    BYD is eating their lunch.
    - henry2023 1y ago
      Well, better cars at a lower price tag and their CEO doesn’t seem to like doing “Roman” salutes. If they were allowed to the US market we know what would happen here.
Brian_K_White 1y ago
I am kind of surprised that the collection of people at the tops of all the big companies commanding so many billions, don't have some sort of behind the scenes levers they can pull to make him squeal like a pig, elected office or no. I can only assume they're all actually largely ok with it. I would not have imagined that they just never thought about things like that in general and now have actually no idea what to do now that this kind of situation has happened. I have no previously considered reactions or plans for most things and life just smacks me in the face like I've been walking with my eyes closed, but I'm a hapless midwit.
- beambot 1y ago
  [flagged]
- crazygringo 1y ago
  Why aren't you assuming the opposite -- that these mythical levers don't actually exist?
- noduerme 1y ago
  Most people feel like hapless midwits, and we know that most of us actually are. Yet we have this tendency to assume, for some weird reason, that people in important positions have their shit together more than we do. Only in emergencies and times of crisis do we see that no one has their shit together. When we see that, we want to blame it on conspiracy or some sort of 5-dimensional chess being played, because it goes against the safe notion that someone, somewhere, is steering the boat (even if we don't like where they're taking us). But the safer bet is that no one is steering, and no one actually can steer, and that it's incompetence all the way to to the top.
  - A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y ago
    Yes, accidental, hapless stumbling onto major windfall on multiple occasions clearly is an indication of nothing more than pure, unadulterated, McDuck level of luck and not, I repeat, not indication of anything but simple return of a favor.
  - 1y ago
gehwartzen 1y ago
How is the unit for domestic component content defined? Is a screw a component in the same way a windshield is? Is it by weight? By cost?
- leptons 1y ago
  Yes.
- alwa 1y ago
  It appears that the American Automobile Labeling Act measures domestic content on a value basis (that is, the amount the manufacturer pays the supplier for it): https://www.nhtsa.gov/part-583-american-automobile-labeling-act-reports#:~:text=The%20U.S./Canadian%20content%20(by%20value)%20of%20each%20item%20of%20motor%20vehicle%20equipment%20that%20will%20be%20used%20to%20assemble%20the%20vehicles%20within%20the%20carline; https://www.nhtsa.gov/part-583-american-automobile-labeling-...
  - mmooss 1y ago
    Does that include tariffs?
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
bix6 1y ago
It’s funny cybertruck doesn’t make the cut, unfortunately nobody buys those so it’s irrelevant.
- marcusb 1y ago
  I see them quite frequently where I live, usually covered in a vinyl wrap advertising some local business or other.
  - unsnap_biceps 1y ago
    There appears to be someone in my local city that is using their cybertruck as a billboard. They drive around during rush hours and every week or so they switch the wrap to a different company. I wonder if it's being widely done elsewhere.
    - cwmoore 1y ago
      I saw a plain white one that could represent a drywall business.
      - marcusb 1y ago
        My wife says the wrapped ones of any color look better than stock. She thinks the stock ones look like toasters, and that Tesla should have painted two red/orange stripes along the tonneau cover to complete the stock look.
        platevoltage 1y ago
        I mean, they do. Wraps also ruin the stainless steel finish, so you are committed to wrapping for the rest of the car's life. Wraps aren't meant to last more than 5 years or so.
    - marcusb 1y ago
      I haven't seen anything like that where I live. I see the same businesses over and over, and often see them parked at or near the business in question.
socalgal2 1y ago
I don't know if it's the same people but many of the comments here seem the opposite of the comments on EUs rules where people say they're targeting specific companies and comments say "no, the rules are such than all companies over a certain size are covered". If the rule is 85% domestic than any company can do it. I'm not saying the tariffs are good. Only that their point is to get things made domesticly
- tedunangst 1y ago
  It's different when I like the rules.
  - qwerpy 1y ago
    Washington state is going in the other direction: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-legislature-considers-new-tax-aimed-at-elon-musks-tesla/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-legisl... I'm sure the targeted aspect of that one is applauded by the same side that is unhappy about this tariff. At least in the tariff case, it's an objective numerical target and probably even achievable by other manufacturers. Ford is only 5% away from the target for some of its models.
    - zelphirkalt 1y ago
      I would go as far as saying, that almost no one outside the US knows about state specific rules. People watch or read some news, but they are usually not that much into the US inner political theater, that they additionally make an effort to learn what state has what other rules. I am not even sure how impactful it is, that Washington state does something different. Like ... Are things built or sold there by a large amount? What makes Washington state special? And what are their intentions? And can their lower level rules actually override what is decided at the country level by Trump's gang? It is bad enough, that people have to deal with hearing about all the crazy stuff the orange clown or his henchmen do on a daily basis. There is a limit to how much people want to deal even more with political stuff from the US, you know?
Aloisius 1y ago
Sure it's 85% now, but what about tomorrow? Next week? Next month? This administration's policy decisions aren't particularly stable.
- Rapzid 1y ago
  I would be surprised if Ford does anything drastic with their supply chain. Probably just wait this out. POTUS is going to be stripped of this ridiculous tariff "power" one way or another. * Bogus emergency is up for review * Congress discussing stripping power * Constitutionality in question * Public going to to bury them in the midterms if this keeps up
  - silverquiet 1y ago
    I've been thinking that reason must prevail for nigh on a decade and while there have been moments where it seems to, overall I can't say that I'm particularly optimistic at the moment. I have been told that "degrowth" (for the purpose of slowing climate change) is the most unpopular policy imaginable, but it seems like we are taking a stab at it for different reasons. Perhaps that unpopularity will have some effect; it does seem (both anecdotally for me and in some data that I've seen) that swing voters are already regretting their decision.
- dboreham 1y ago
  Most of this pantomime is also illegal or unconstitutional. For example you can't pass a law or regulation that targets one person or entity. But it'll take a long time to litigate everything because the DoJ and congress have been rooted.
  - dragonwriter 1y ago
    > For example you can't pass a law or regulation that targets one person or entity. Yes, you can. Such a law cannot direct punishment or assign guilt to a particular individual or entity without a judicial trial, or it would violate the Bill of Attainder clause, but laws doing other things that apply to a specific named individual or entity are (unless they violate some other provision) Constitutional; in fact, in some cases they are necessary to satisfy other Constitutional rules.
asdsadasdasd123 1y ago
I dont understand what this article means. Tesla's aren't imported so why would there be tariffs on them. The source link leads nowhere.
- crazygringo 1y ago
  It seems to be about a tariff rebate on imported parts.
  - frabcus 1y ago
    Right but presumably 85% of the parts aren't imported? So while it is a benefit, it is a slightly bizarre one? Would be nice to see a technical definition for how the % imported is worked out.
    - Aurornis 1y ago
      > Right but presumably 85% of the parts aren't imported? 85% of parts != 85% of cost The rules for calculating what percentage of a vehicle is domestic or foreign made are obscure. It's not clear what rules they're going to be using for this tariff exemption yet. It could be possible that the 15% foreign content of a car could make up 30% of the cost of goods sold, for example. If the parts come from China they could have a 125% or higher tariff applied, pushing the share of BOM cost even higher.
- Jtsummers 1y ago
  The tariffs cover parts as well as whole vehicles. The thing announced here is that they'll have a rebate program if the car is 85% manufactured in the US, and the rebate will be in effect for 2 years. So you still pay the tariff on parts, but you get some or all the money back if you meet that threshold. The idea being that it gives the company two years to move their parts manufacturing or sources. But the threshold is so high that only Tesla gets to enjoy the rebate, not any other company.
  - vlovich123 1y ago
guywithahat 1y ago
I wonder how much their lack of union plays into this. The auto factories fled Flint/Detroit due to the UAW basically an attempt to limit the scope of strikes and violence from the UAW. Tesla doesn't have to worry about unions (at least yet), and so they have very centralized factories where an enormous amount of work is done. Probably makes it easier to do everything in the US if you can do it all in one building
- porphyra 1y ago
  In the long run, unions can be blamed for this whole Trump Presidency. Biden was pressured by unions to snub Tesla at the EV summit. This personally offended Elon, who then went to support Trump with all sorts of tactics including buying Twitter to amplify his voice.
  - lenerdenator 1y ago
    > In the long run, unions can be blamed for this whole Trump Presidency. Yeah, how dare they do the things that make reactionaries be... reactionary.
    - porphyra 1y ago
      The democrats also tried to pass legislation in 2021 that excludes Tesla from an EV credit due to it being not built by unions, even though Tesla has by far the largest share of electric vehicles and is the most productive and innovative company in this sector.
      - lenerdenator 1y ago
        Yeah we wouldn't want the people making the product having representation and getting a larger share of the take on the sale of said product.
      - deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
      - 1y ago
bgwalter 1y ago
Lutnick is a man of his word: https://fortune.com/2025/03/20/howard-lutnick-pumps-tesla-stock/ https://fortune.com/2025/03/20/howard-lutnick-pumps-tesla-st... Tesla is now above that price from March again. Orangehorseshoe loves Tesla!
umvi 1y ago
I wonder if Slate (https://www.slate.auto/ https://www.slate.auto/) will be exempt as well since they tout "Made in USA"
briandear 1y ago
Japan’s trade barriers on foreign autos have been legendary. https://www.americanautomakers.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/181/Japan%27s%20Protected%20Auto%20Market%20copy_0.pdf https://www.americanautomakers.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/...
FrustratedMonky 1y ago
The plan all along?
matt3210 1y ago
It’s pretty coincidental. I can’t help but wonder if the number was picked for this outcome
- A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y ago
  What I personally find more interesting is that they consciously did not choose a more conciliatory number ( like 80 ), which would capture more cars and have the benefit of being able to deflect attacks. Almost like it was intended to cause uproar. Otoh, I listened to conservative ratio the other day and the general tone was "good, he is making them mad and he doesn't care."
  - iamtheworstdev 1y ago
    that's what gets them excited.. "owning the libs"
    - bilbo0s 1y ago
      It's time for Europe to de link from the US. If that's the way policy decisions are going to be made every time conservatives come to power in the US, then it's best that the rest of the world not go down with the US when the time comes.
      - queenkjuul 1y ago
        Just all gotta hope that an increasingly desperate America in decline doesn't start grasping at war-shaped straws
yongjik 1y ago
I was thinking about buying an EV in the next several years, but I'll never buy a Tesla, until I see Elon Musk in prison. And I don't think I'm alone. Major effect of Trump's trade war is yet to be felt. I think Americans' perception of Trump will get much worse soon, and Tesla's brand image will follow suit. A tariff exemption is cute but I don't think that's enough to save Tesla.
- theyinwhy 1y ago
  Tesla [...] losing $15.3 billion in brand value: https://brandfinance.com/press-releases/toyota-is-the-worlds-most-valuable-auto-brand-while-tesla-continues-to-lose-brand-value https://brandfinance.com/press-releases/toyota-is-the-worlds...
AngryData 1y ago
The vast majority of their battery cells are made in China and Japan so im not sure how they even qualify. Oh yeah, corruption.
- henry2023 1y ago
  It’s not corruption it’s just paying back for the votes Elon bought with this 1 million a day program on swing states. Uhm, wait a moment.
- panick21_ 1y ago
  They can qualify because unlike most automakers they do actually have significant investment in their own battery supply-chain.
- MrFreebus 1y ago
  Tesla produces most of their batteries in Nevada.
esalman 1y ago
The irony here is that Democrats, for more than a decade, did anything and everything, by bankrolling taxpayers money into incentives and subsidies, to protect Tesla, help it compete and even flourish and scale, in the auto market where margins are razor thin and true innovations are hard to come by, even less so from smaller players. Nobody, except Republicans, batted an eye because climate change, science and environment comes first supposedly.
- hiddencost 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y ago
    He is right you know. He managed to fleece dems and is now fleecing the other side. Neutral observer can only stay in awe of his talents.
    - esalman 1y ago
      Thanks, I am indeed talking as a neutral observer. It's been almost 7 years since I realized how much of a nutcase he is. Some democrats only realized it 8 months ago.
      - Capricorn2481 1y ago
        > Some democrats only realized it 8 months ago This is some wild revisionist history. Democrats have been sounding off about Musk for years. He endorsed Trump way back in 2020. Nobody is learning anything new about him. On the contrary, everyone is dug in with how they feel about him because it's too late to do anything about it, so they might as well pretend everything is fine.
        esalman 1y ago
        He voted for Biden in 2020.
AlotOfReading 1y ago
I'm not sure even Tesla unambiguously qualifies here. Looking at the NHTSA part 583 list for 2025 [0], none of the Tesla vehicles have a "US" content higher than 75% (which I think includes Canada?). The highest is the base Kia EV6 at 80%. This seems to be coming from the Kogod manufacturing index. That's a more qualitative ranking that attempts to deal with things like corporate structures rather than just origin like the NHTSA numbers. As someone who works in the industry, "where" something comes from is an inherently fuzzy concept. Different parts of the government use radically different definitions. For example, under NAFTA "domestic" parts are usually things manufactured anywhere in North America. This was done to onshore automotive manufacturing that wasn't realistically going to come back to the US, but political leaders didn't want to stay in Asia. One result of these tariffs may actually be that more auto manufacturing moves to Asia as the advantage of North American manufacturing is lost. [0] https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2025-04/MY2025-AALA-Alphabetical%204_7_2025.pdf https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2025-04/MY2025-A...
- Suppafly 1y ago
  My immediate assumption was that Tesla lies and probably has more offshore content than most of their competitors.
  - kurthr 1y ago
    Exactly, corruption is legal. Only your competitors will be fined.
    - decremental 1y ago
      [dead]
    - matttproud 1y ago
      Give the U.S. ten years and "clientelism" will have become a household word.
      - 1y ago
Aloisius 1y ago
From the 2025 Part 583 for this year: - Tesla model 3 - 70-75% US/Canada content - Tesla model Y - 70% US/Canada content - Tesla Cybertruck - 65% US/Canada content - Tesla model S - 65% US/Canada content Perhaps it is calculated differently since no one hits 85%. https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2025-04/MY2025-AALA-Percentage%204_7_2025.pdf https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2025-04/MY2025-A...
- Jensson 1y ago
  They probably include Mexico, add that and Tesla is above 85% according to that list.
tim333 1y ago
Apparently you get a credit of 15% of the car price to use against imported parts so presumably something like a Mustang with 20% imported parts would pay tariffs on a quarter of the value of the parts.
jmward01 1y ago
Unfortunately companies have a bigger voice than people. Until that isn't the case there will always be doubts about the 'neutrality' of a particular law/policy/etc. The bigger thing here is that this particular administration rarely, if ever, does things in a 'neutral' manor. It is always 100% transactional with Trump. There is absolutely no doubt that the 85% is designed to give Tesla, and more specifically Musk, a huge win. It is foolish or outright disingenuous to even pretend that this isn't the case.
HarHarVeryFunny 1y ago
So how does this encourage a shift to domestic manufacturing? It's basically a reward for those who have already done what you want rather than incentivizing those who's behavior you'd like to change. It's a carrot for sure, but the carrot is out of reach since now you're putting financial stress on those you're hoping to bear the cost of moving onshore by giving an advantage to their competitors. It's similar to giving special status to Apple by not penalizing their China-based manufacturing, then hoping that OTHER not-too-big-to-fail companies will be able to do what Apple couldn't (manufacture at a competitively cheap price onshore) while additionally facing this unfair competition. It seems it'd be more effective to have incremental (based on % domestic manufacture & labor) rewards/penalties for those making changes rather than carve-outs for those too-big-to-fail and making competition even harder for those you are trying to incentivize. Also, never mind manufacturing - how about addressing IT offhsoring, which is something far easier for US companies to change if incentivized/penalized appropriately. Is it really domestic clothing sweatshops that we want to encourage, not domestic high-tech industry with well paying jobs, paying high taxes, and helping retain onshore talent in an area of importance to national security?
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > how does this encourage a shift to domestic manufacturing? It doesn’t. Trump is clearly trying to negotiate these tariffs away. So they don’t incentivise moving production. Just taxing everyone but Musk.
  - andreygrehov 1y ago
    Honda reported that it's shifting the production of Civic Hybrid from Mexico to Indiana. This one example alone illustrates that your statement is incorrect.
- thrance 1y ago
  That was yesterday's narrative, keep up! Now tariffs were a plan to pressure our allies to renegotiate their trade deals with us in our favor, and that worked great! (According to the white house (Also forget that not a single deal was made)). Oops! Scratch that, now that China won't back down on their retaliatory tariffs, they were always a tool to make China "fall back in line" or something. Yeah, destroying our own economy ought to teach them a lesson. This shit is so transparent, I'm amazed as to how 30% of the country can still endorse this clown and his circus. My mental image of the average republican voter is now that of a toddler trying to fit a square into a circle hole while drooling on themselves.
cosmicgadget 1y ago
Let me make sure I understand this: the president is addressing the fentanyl state of emergency by tariffing imported vehicle parts from wherever?
- crummy 1y ago
  nobody said winning the war on drugs was gonna be easy
  - croisillon 1y ago
    winning the war against economy proves easier
  - cozzyd 1y ago
    the trick is to make people too poor to afford drugs.
    - sitkack 1y ago
      Make crime unaffordable!
- cozzyd 1y ago
  Fentanyl is smuggled into the country with foreign auto parts, obviously.
- Hamuko 1y ago
  I'm guessing American cars are more unreliable and might break down before they manage to deliver the fentanyl.
- neuroelectron 1y ago
  You're not wrong to raise an eyebrow here — the connection between fentanyl and imported vehicle parts isn't exactly intuitive. Let's unpack this.
  - spicybbq 1y ago
jheriko 1y ago
[dead]
tonetheman 1y ago
[dead]
kevin_thibedeau 1y ago
Can a manufacturer game this by separating domestic components into sub-assemblies?
CyberDildonics 1y ago
This was predictable and frequently predicted when musk got involved. Of course there would be new rules that would be written specifically so hurt his competitors and not him. That's why tesla stock rose sharply when trump won.
oxqbldpxo 1y ago
Don't look Up! Great movie.
insane_dreamer 1y ago
Ah yes, the "free market" at work! Also a friendly reminder that all these tariffs are being made possible by a "state of emergency" declared by Trump because of fentanyl coming from Canada and China. Otherwise, only Congress would have the power to impose tarriffs. So shall we just be honest and say we're heading towards a centrally planned economy, China style?
- queenkjuul 1y ago
  That we should be so lucky. Chinese Central planning actually gets useful stuff done, little hope of that from this lot
Mystery-Machine 1y ago
Odd how sentiment about Elon Musk changed rapidly... Some HN users pointed out in the comments here that not even Teslas reach 85%. Is the article wrong? Interesting that everyone is talking about favoriting, but no one talks the anti-favoriting of Tesla during the Biden administration. Tesla wasn't invited to any EV conference that was organized by the previous admin. They are the biggest EV factory in the US yet somehow they were never invited...smh
- tenpies 1y ago
  It's also quite telling that this gets attention and rampant cries about the oligarchy and cronyism, but not a peep about: > New York state lawmakers have launched an effort to shut down Tesla’s stores in the state From: https://electrek.co/2025/04/28/ny-lawmakers-shut-down-teslas-stores/ https://electrek.co/2025/04/28/ny-lawmakers-shut-down-teslas... > WA Legislature considers new tax aimed at Elon Musk’s Tesla From: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-legislature-considers-new-tax-aimed-at-elon-musks-tesla/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-legisl... "For my friends? Anything! For my enemies? The law [and new taxes]!"
  - actionfromafar 1y ago
    I thought State Rights were so, very, very important?
- tzs 1y ago
  One of those was to promote EVs built with union labor. They only invited the companies with the largest union workforces. The other EV meetings organized by the Biden administration were all specifically about EVs in the context of specific legislation the administration was proposing, and they only invited companies that were supporting that legislation.
rcpt 1y ago
Still never gonna buy one.
ashu1461 1y ago
Tesla Model S is also not exempted ?
gnarlouse 1y ago
Cool soo.... that's an oligarchy. Can we boot these dickfucks from office yet? Jesus christ
ChicagoDave 1y ago
Not going to change the buying market. A lot of people will never buy a Tesla. There are options, with more choices coming next year.
- rco8786 1y ago
  > Not going to change the buying market. Price changes absolutely change the buying market. What a weird thing to say. A lot of people will never buy a Tesla, a lot still will (they delivered 300k+ vehicles in Q1). The ones who still will buy will also consider the price.
  - ChicagoDave 1y ago
    No company can withstand political backlash at a national scale. Tesla has lost significant ground just because Merlin started playing politics. Target is suffering badly from their DEI decision. Globally, Tesla is in even worse shape. No one in Europe will be buy one now. China makes their own EVs. The stock is being propped up by institutional investors. Eventually even that will collapse.
    - rco8786 1y ago
      All of those things are true, and none of that is mutually exclusive to price changes affecting (what is left of) the buyer demand.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
- natch 1y ago
  Those people will buy and own exactly what they deserve.
derelicta 1y ago
I love how capitalists got so confident lately, they even lay bare their own corruption. Makes sense tho, they know no one will oppose them.
tritipsocial 1y ago
This headline is misleading because it makes it seem like tariffs are a step function that activate below 85%, which isn't true. The formula is a simple, linear equation: tariffs = 0.25 * MSRP * (percent foreign content - 15) Companies with 84% domestic content will pay a 25% tariff on 1% of the MSRP, companies with 70% domestic content will pay a 25% tariff on 15% of the MSRP, etc. This is a common sense way to incentivize companies to make parts here without requiring perfection. Here is the proclamation: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/amendments-to-adjusting-imports-of-automobiles-and-automobile-parts-into-the-united-states/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/amen...
- mft_ 1y ago
  > This headline is misleading because it makes it seem like tariffs are a step function that activate below 85%, which isn't true. > The formula is a simple, linear equation: tariffs = 0.25 * MSRP * (percent foreign content - 15) Um... unless I'm missing something, agree it's not a if/then rule, but in practice, that's exactly how the formula works? 84% domestic = 16% foreign = 0.25 * MSRP * (16-15) = 25% tariff on 1% of MSRP 85% domestic = 15% foreign = 0.25 * MSRP * (15-15) = 25% tariff on 0% of MSRP - which is nothing 86% domestic = 15% foreign = 0.25 * MSRP * (14-15) = 25% tariff on -1% of MSRP - but let's assume the Gov't isn't going to pay companies so effectively 0% again So yes, it's a tariff that effectively activates below 85% domestic content.
  - tempestn 1y ago
    Your parent's point is that it does not suddenly apply to the full value when exceeding 15% foreign content.
    - ta1243 1y ago
      The headline doesn't say that Any vehicle at 85% is exempt Any vehicle at 84.999% or less pays a tarrif That tarrif may be 1 cent or $100,000, the headline doesn't say anything about that. Given the need for transparency though it would be best if every item bought in america highlights the exact cost of the tarrif, same as it highlights sales tax. Indeed America is fairly unique in advertising pre tax prices (buy a can of coke for $1, it comes to $1.07 at the store), it would make sense if prices were also advertised pre tarrif too, in terms of transparency. I wonder how the administration could encourage that.
asdfman123 1y ago
"What would the world's richest man stand to gain by cozying up to the Trump administration?"
Animats 1y ago
STATUS CHANGE: Incoming Trump change on auto tariffs in last few hours.[1] Not fully analyzed in the press yet. [1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-scales-back-tariffs-on-automakers-but-analysts-still-expect-car-prices-to-rise/ar-AA1DQtJi https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-scales-back-ta...
casenmgreen 1y ago
The corruption of dictatorship. This, in all its many forms, is part of why the economies of dictatorships perform badly.
jaimex2 1y ago
I didn't see any of this whingeing when Biden was making EV incentives that blatantly excluded Tesla. This is what happens when you go along with lawfare or weaponized government. The canon gets turned around and pointed the other way soon enough.
- tzs 1y ago
  > I didn't see any of this whingeing when Biden was making EV incentives that blatantly excluded Tesla. Examples? Here are the EV incentives that I'm aware of that happened during the Biden administration. • $7500 tax credit for qualifying vehicles. It only applies to cars below a certain MSRP which disqualified the Tesla Models S and X, but that same limit excluded many other cars from many other companies too. The rest of Tesla's models have many configurations below the MSRP cutoff that did qualify. There were also rules on battery materials sourcing, which disqualified about 80% of the EVs that were then available in the US. Those did hit some specific trims of the Model 3 for a few months but Tesla was able to switch to using the same batteries that the unaffected Model 3 trims used, restoring the credit. • The National Electrical Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which provided grants for building EV charging infrastructure. Tesla qualified and received considerable money from NEVI grants. • There were some grants specifically intended to boost EV manufacturing with union workers. Tesla does not have any unionized plants so was de facto excluded. • There were grants for building a network of EV truck charges. Tesla submitted a project proposal but it was not accepted. What else was there?
InDubioProRubio 1y ago
The protective moat, the death of innovation
yuppii 1y ago
[flagged]
- hsuduebc2 1y ago
  Care to elaborate?
  - yuppii 1y ago
    [dead]
theodric 1y ago
The headline is misleading. It should be edited to say "Only two Tesla models" rather than "Only Tesla."
ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
Someone said to me, the other day: “If you want to buy a car made in the US, get a BMW. If you want to buy a car made in Mexico, get a Ford.”
otikik 1y ago
They are speedrunning the "Banana Republic" achievement.
tTTempOrary 1y ago
There is a thing, i call "cos-playing" - where basically everybody agrees upon a "golden past" and by "reenacting" the golden past in clothing, language and behaviour, this "golden past" will be brought back and forced to stay. Not in the picture are external circumstances, circumstances the golden past brought about, that make a repetition impossible (pension systems calcifying society, monopolies, etc. ). The truely dangerous phase is reached, when the frantic cosplaying shows no effect and the conclusion slowly crawls towards "insanity is what you do with your life". Because then you have people with nowhere to go and the tools of the past, wishing for an end.
hsuduebc2 1y ago
Well. Well. Well.
mlindner 1y ago
Flagging this for the highly misleading headline. It makes it sound as if Tesla is getting some kind of carve out which is the furthest thing from the truth.
LightBug1 1y ago
How many memecoins did Musk purchase for this exemption? Or was it an in-kind deal for his amateur-hack-a-billy work at DOGE? Musk as presidential prostitute is not something I had on my bingo card when he first arrived on the scene. This is the kind of bullshit your reputation will never recover from - no matter how many puff pieces you buy or retweet. RIP Tesla. RIP Elon.
ThinkBeat 1y ago
This is reasonably close to a continuation of what the Biden administration did. Though they did it with tax credits not tariffs. To get the tax break you had to buy a car made in America. (Which pissed off car makers outside the US) If I understand the below from NPR, then few electric cars qualified back then as wel, and one of the few was Tesla Model Y "As of May 3, 2024, eligible vehicles include the best-selling Tesla Model Y, the budget-friendly Chevrolet Bolt (which is no longer in production, but can still be found on some dealer lots), the Volkswagen ID.4 " https://www.npr.org/2023/12/28/1219158071/ev-electric-vehicles-tax-credit-car-shopping-tesla-ford-vw-gm https://www.npr.org/2023/12/28/1219158071/ev-electric-vehicl...
scotty79 1y ago
What a coincidence.

645 points by abduhl 1y ago

Now they need a special insurance subsidy to offset the extra costs for losses.

Most positive take: Someone asked what is the car model with the most American parts right now? We will make everyone meet that benchmark or better.

Animats 1y ago

The CEO of Ford is very critical of Trump. But Ford can probably get the USA content for gas-powered Mustangs up from 80% to 85%. The electric version is made in Mexico, but once Ford's Blue Oval City plant in Tennessee comes up in 2027, that will move to the US. Of course, who knows where Trump will be by then.

bix6 1y ago
How long do you think that 5% will take them?
- Animats 1y ago
  I have no idea, but I'll bet there are people in Dearborn, Michigan working on that right now.

JohnFen 1y ago

[flagged]

Loughla 1y ago

[flagged]

Henchman21 1y ago
Right so let’s give credit to the fine people who work at Tesla, not the wealthy child who swooped in at the end and claimed all the work as his. In other words: literally anyone except Elon Musk.
- recursive 1y ago
  The end?
- kcb 1y ago
  Musk became CEO of Tesla when their only car was an electric converted Lotus...
  - carpo 1y ago
    Yeah, I think we should try to separate his business acumen from his nut-case personality. He can be a successful businessman AND a fucking prick.
    - leptons 1y ago
      Who made his initial fortune as an illegal immigrant.
      - Henchman21 1y ago
        Inherited wealth means nothing eh?
    - Henchman21 1y ago
      Why are those separable to you? They aren’t at all to me. One informs the other at all times.
HappySweeney 1y ago
There is no way this is a coincidence.
1y ago

arghandugh 1y ago

[flagged]

rectang 1y ago

I have zero faith in "free market" ideologues, because what we actually get when they gain power is just favoritism for "free market" ideologues.

aswanson 1y ago
Same. This era has exposed them as the shameless hypocrites they are.
- resters 1y ago
  There is not and has never been any trace of free speech or free market "ideology" from Trump. Perhaps as a talking point but never in any policy or action. Trump is the anti-libertarian, severely authoritarian and moving things toward a centrally planned economy!
- kristopolous 1y ago
  It was always about power accumulation. Integrity, honesty, and principles is literally what they mean by the word "woke" when they harass people for being it.
  - akoboldfrying 1y ago
    > Integrity, honesty, and principles is literally what they mean by the word "woke" No it isn't, and saying things like this just adds noise. What they mean by the word "woke" is a worldview that delegitimises the things they aspire to or worked hard for (status based on power based on individual agency), and prioritises other forms of social currency (victimisation by external forces) in a way they find performative.
    - dboreham 1y ago
      Didn't you just say exactly the same thing as the parent comment?
      - 1y ago

joshdavham 1y ago

This is crony capitalism.

throwaway48476 1y ago
It is but it always has been. I would also appreciate if the big 3 American car companies had 85% American content.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > would also appreciate if the big 3 American car companies had 85% American content Versus 80%? Those five percentage points are worth a double-digit tariff.
  - throwaway48476 1y ago
    5 percentage points should be easy enough for them to change then by moving a few supply chains.
    - kasey_junk 1y ago
      So make it 90% and don’t give Tesla the special treatment.
      - moralestapia 1y ago
        [flagged]
        JumpCrisscross 1y ago
        > Then the exact same discussion will come up with a different number No? The point is there is no reason for the number 85 other than benefiting Tesla. The metacognitive question should be how one should estimate that variable in a way which balances disruption with incentivising the desired outcome.

mystraline 1y ago

Used cars are ALSO exempt. And, all used goods bought at secondhand stores are tariff-exempt as well. And so is FB marketplace, Craigslist, and others. My protest is meager, but effective for us - we just will buy used and use 'Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle' where we can. EnEnough of us doing that will slow and hamper the economy (read: rich peoples' money).

toast0 1y ago
Are you saying if I import a used car, I don't have to pay tariffs? Factory delivery programs would become a lot more popular. Or are you just saying that if I buy a car that's already in the US and has already had any import tariffs due at time of import paid, I won't have to pay them again? That's a lot less interesting.
- Aloisius 1y ago
  Yes. Volvo has had a program for decades where they fly you to Sweden where drive a vehicle around long enough for it to be "used", buy it then they ship it over to the US to avoid US new car import tariffs.
  - bushido 1y ago
    Very surprised to learn that this is real https://www.volvocars.com/us/l/osd-tourist/ https://www.volvocars.com/us/l/osd-tourist/ Pretty cool. Lots more info on reddit threads.
    - yareally 1y ago
      Audi, BMW and Mercedes did this as well until a few years ago. https://www.capitalone.com/cars/learn/finding-the-right-car/what-to-know-about-european-cardelivery-programs/3684 https://www.capitalone.com/cars/learn/finding-the-right-car/...
    - iamtheworstdev 1y ago
      looks like you have to pay VAT?

amelius 1y ago

[flagged]

gjsman-1000 1y ago
Nonsense. Does anyone seriously think the military is going to defy SCOTUS at the end of the four years? Does anyone seriously think Jan 6th, bad as it was, was going to end the republic[0]? Such hyperbole is dangerous at best when people take it seriously. [0] Especially because what it tells our enemies. Iran, take out just this one specific building, and America is done for!
- rco8786 1y ago
  > Does anyone seriously think Jan 6th, bad as it was, was going to end the republic? Literally everyone sat in fear for our republic that day as we watched that happened. What were you doing?
- Spooky23 1y ago
  What did the military do on Jan 6? They stood back and did nothing. That wasn’t an actual coup because some Capitol Police had the balls to do their job and Vice President Pence is a patriot. I’m sure the next time around anyone “untrustworthy” in the police force will have been removed, and the national Guard in surrounding states will have routine training in Alaska.
  - gjsman-1000 1y ago
    > They stood back and did nothing There's no reason to have a full allergic reaction to a mosquito bite.
    - cogman10 1y ago
      The mob was literally minutes away from congressional people. They further kept those same congresspeople surrounded and locked up for hours until Trump called them off. Ashley Babbitt died because she broken through the last barrier between the mob and congress. Had this mob been armed (and there were plans of being armed that were ultimately scuttled), it could have been a blood bath. There was only a handful of LEO between the mob and congress. This wasn't a "mosquito bite". Now, what would have changed if the mob had their way with congress or the supreme court? Who knows. For the SC, it'd have given trump the ability to put in more yes men to rubber stamp his election loss narrative. For congress, the plan was literally to have congressional collaborators challenge the validity of the election (which still happened) to take power. If many democrat reps lost their life, then yes, congress could have rubberstamped a trump victory. Very few republicans stood up to trump or his plans. "What could they have done", the answer is kill a bunch of congress people in the opposing party to empower their party. This was a big deal.

plaurens 1y ago

Curious about Rivian…

cjbenedikt 1y ago

Won't safe his Chinese sales though

wahern 1y ago
Tesla builds Model 3s and Ys in their Shanghai factory using almost entirely domestically sourced components, and even exports a fair number from there. But perhaps the trade war will reduce demand.
- iamtheworstdev 1y ago
  BYD is eating their lunch.
  - henry2023 1y ago
    Well, better cars at a lower price tag and their CEO doesn’t seem to like doing “Roman” salutes. If they were allowed to the US market we know what would happen here.

Brian_K_White 1y ago

I am kind of surprised that the collection of people at the tops of all the big companies commanding so many billions, don't have some sort of behind the scenes levers they can pull to make him squeal like a pig, elected office or no. I can only assume they're all actually largely ok with it. I would not have imagined that they just never thought about things like that in general and now have actually no idea what to do now that this kind of situation has happened. I have no previously considered reactions or plans for most things and life just smacks me in the face like I've been walking with my eyes closed, but I'm a hapless midwit.

beambot 1y ago
[flagged]
crazygringo 1y ago
Why aren't you assuming the opposite -- that these mythical levers don't actually exist?
noduerme 1y ago
Most people feel like hapless midwits, and we know that most of us actually are. Yet we have this tendency to assume, for some weird reason, that people in important positions have their shit together more than we do. Only in emergencies and times of crisis do we see that no one has their shit together. When we see that, we want to blame it on conspiracy or some sort of 5-dimensional chess being played, because it goes against the safe notion that someone, somewhere, is steering the boat (even if we don't like where they're taking us). But the safer bet is that no one is steering, and no one actually can steer, and that it's incompetence all the way to to the top.
- A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y ago
  Yes, accidental, hapless stumbling onto major windfall on multiple occasions clearly is an indication of nothing more than pure, unadulterated, McDuck level of luck and not, I repeat, not indication of anything but simple return of a favor.
- 1y ago

gehwartzen 1y ago

How is the unit for domestic component content defined? Is a screw a component in the same way a windshield is? Is it by weight? By cost?

leptons 1y ago
Yes.
alwa 1y ago
It appears that the American Automobile Labeling Act measures domestic content on a value basis (that is, the amount the manufacturer pays the supplier for it): https://www.nhtsa.gov/part-583-american-automobile-labeling-act-reports#:~:text=The%20U.S./Canadian%20content%20(by%20value)%20of%20each%20item%20of%20motor%20vehicle%20equipment%20that%20will%20be%20used%20to%20assemble%20the%20vehicles%20within%20the%20carline; https://www.nhtsa.gov/part-583-american-automobile-labeling-...
- mmooss 1y ago
  Does that include tariffs?
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]

bix6 1y ago

It’s funny cybertruck doesn’t make the cut, unfortunately nobody buys those so it’s irrelevant.

marcusb 1y ago
I see them quite frequently where I live, usually covered in a vinyl wrap advertising some local business or other.
- unsnap_biceps 1y ago
  There appears to be someone in my local city that is using their cybertruck as a billboard. They drive around during rush hours and every week or so they switch the wrap to a different company. I wonder if it's being widely done elsewhere.
  - cwmoore 1y ago
    I saw a plain white one that could represent a drywall business.
    - marcusb 1y ago
      My wife says the wrapped ones of any color look better than stock. She thinks the stock ones look like toasters, and that Tesla should have painted two red/orange stripes along the tonneau cover to complete the stock look.
      - platevoltage 1y ago
        I mean, they do. Wraps also ruin the stainless steel finish, so you are committed to wrapping for the rest of the car's life. Wraps aren't meant to last more than 5 years or so.
  - marcusb 1y ago
    I haven't seen anything like that where I live. I see the same businesses over and over, and often see them parked at or near the business in question.

socalgal2 1y ago

I don't know if it's the same people but many of the comments here seem the opposite of the comments on EUs rules where people say they're targeting specific companies and comments say "no, the rules are such than all companies over a certain size are covered". If the rule is 85% domestic than any company can do it. I'm not saying the tariffs are good. Only that their point is to get things made domesticly

tedunangst 1y ago
It's different when I like the rules.
- qwerpy 1y ago
  Washington state is going in the other direction: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-legislature-considers-new-tax-aimed-at-elon-musks-tesla/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-legisl... I'm sure the targeted aspect of that one is applauded by the same side that is unhappy about this tariff. At least in the tariff case, it's an objective numerical target and probably even achievable by other manufacturers. Ford is only 5% away from the target for some of its models.
  - zelphirkalt 1y ago
    I would go as far as saying, that almost no one outside the US knows about state specific rules. People watch or read some news, but they are usually not that much into the US inner political theater, that they additionally make an effort to learn what state has what other rules. I am not even sure how impactful it is, that Washington state does something different. Like ... Are things built or sold there by a large amount? What makes Washington state special? And what are their intentions? And can their lower level rules actually override what is decided at the country level by Trump's gang? It is bad enough, that people have to deal with hearing about all the crazy stuff the orange clown or his henchmen do on a daily basis. There is a limit to how much people want to deal even more with political stuff from the US, you know?

Aloisius 1y ago

Sure it's 85% now, but what about tomorrow? Next week? Next month? This administration's policy decisions aren't particularly stable.

Rapzid 1y ago
I would be surprised if Ford does anything drastic with their supply chain. Probably just wait this out. POTUS is going to be stripped of this ridiculous tariff "power" one way or another. * Bogus emergency is up for review * Congress discussing stripping power * Constitutionality in question * Public going to to bury them in the midterms if this keeps up
- silverquiet 1y ago
  I've been thinking that reason must prevail for nigh on a decade and while there have been moments where it seems to, overall I can't say that I'm particularly optimistic at the moment. I have been told that "degrowth" (for the purpose of slowing climate change) is the most unpopular policy imaginable, but it seems like we are taking a stab at it for different reasons. Perhaps that unpopularity will have some effect; it does seem (both anecdotally for me and in some data that I've seen) that swing voters are already regretting their decision.
dboreham 1y ago
Most of this pantomime is also illegal or unconstitutional. For example you can't pass a law or regulation that targets one person or entity. But it'll take a long time to litigate everything because the DoJ and congress have been rooted.
- dragonwriter 1y ago
  > For example you can't pass a law or regulation that targets one person or entity. Yes, you can. Such a law cannot direct punishment or assign guilt to a particular individual or entity without a judicial trial, or it would violate the Bill of Attainder clause, but laws doing other things that apply to a specific named individual or entity are (unless they violate some other provision) Constitutional; in fact, in some cases they are necessary to satisfy other Constitutional rules.

asdsadasdasd123 1y ago

I dont understand what this article means. Tesla's aren't imported so why would there be tariffs on them. The source link leads nowhere.

crazygringo 1y ago
It seems to be about a tariff rebate on imported parts.
- frabcus 1y ago
  Right but presumably 85% of the parts aren't imported? So while it is a benefit, it is a slightly bizarre one? Would be nice to see a technical definition for how the % imported is worked out.
  - Aurornis 1y ago
    > Right but presumably 85% of the parts aren't imported? 85% of parts != 85% of cost The rules for calculating what percentage of a vehicle is domestic or foreign made are obscure. It's not clear what rules they're going to be using for this tariff exemption yet. It could be possible that the 15% foreign content of a car could make up 30% of the cost of goods sold, for example. If the parts come from China they could have a 125% or higher tariff applied, pushing the share of BOM cost even higher.
Jtsummers 1y ago
The tariffs cover parts as well as whole vehicles. The thing announced here is that they'll have a rebate program if the car is 85% manufactured in the US, and the rebate will be in effect for 2 years. So you still pay the tariff on parts, but you get some or all the money back if you meet that threshold. The idea being that it gives the company two years to move their parts manufacturing or sources. But the threshold is so high that only Tesla gets to enjoy the rebate, not any other company.
- vlovich123 1y ago

guywithahat 1y ago

I wonder how much their lack of union plays into this. The auto factories fled Flint/Detroit due to the UAW basically an attempt to limit the scope of strikes and violence from the UAW. Tesla doesn't have to worry about unions (at least yet), and so they have very centralized factories where an enormous amount of work is done. Probably makes it easier to do everything in the US if you can do it all in one building

porphyra 1y ago
In the long run, unions can be blamed for this whole Trump Presidency. Biden was pressured by unions to snub Tesla at the EV summit. This personally offended Elon, who then went to support Trump with all sorts of tactics including buying Twitter to amplify his voice.
- lenerdenator 1y ago
  > In the long run, unions can be blamed for this whole Trump Presidency. Yeah, how dare they do the things that make reactionaries be... reactionary.
  - porphyra 1y ago
    The democrats also tried to pass legislation in 2021 that excludes Tesla from an EV credit due to it being not built by unions, even though Tesla has by far the largest share of electric vehicles and is the most productive and innovative company in this sector.
    - lenerdenator 1y ago
      Yeah we wouldn't want the people making the product having representation and getting a larger share of the take on the sale of said product.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - 1y ago

bgwalter 1y ago

Lutnick is a man of his word: https://fortune.com/2025/03/20/howard-lutnick-pumps-tesla-stock/ https://fortune.com/2025/03/20/howard-lutnick-pumps-tesla-st... Tesla is now above that price from March again. Orangehorseshoe loves Tesla!

umvi 1y ago

I wonder if Slate (https://www.slate.auto/ https://www.slate.auto/) will be exempt as well since they tout "Made in USA"

briandear 1y ago

Japan’s trade barriers on foreign autos have been legendary. https://www.americanautomakers.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/181/Japan%27s%20Protected%20Auto%20Market%20copy_0.pdf https://www.americanautomakers.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/...

FrustratedMonky 1y ago

The plan all along?

matt3210 1y ago

It’s pretty coincidental. I can’t help but wonder if the number was picked for this outcome

A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y ago
What I personally find more interesting is that they consciously did not choose a more conciliatory number ( like 80 ), which would capture more cars and have the benefit of being able to deflect attacks. Almost like it was intended to cause uproar. Otoh, I listened to conservative ratio the other day and the general tone was "good, he is making them mad and he doesn't care."
- iamtheworstdev 1y ago
  that's what gets them excited.. "owning the libs"
  - bilbo0s 1y ago
    It's time for Europe to de link from the US. If that's the way policy decisions are going to be made every time conservatives come to power in the US, then it's best that the rest of the world not go down with the US when the time comes.
    - queenkjuul 1y ago
      Just all gotta hope that an increasingly desperate America in decline doesn't start grasping at war-shaped straws

yongjik 1y ago

I was thinking about buying an EV in the next several years, but I'll never buy a Tesla, until I see Elon Musk in prison. And I don't think I'm alone. Major effect of Trump's trade war is yet to be felt. I think Americans' perception of Trump will get much worse soon, and Tesla's brand image will follow suit. A tariff exemption is cute but I don't think that's enough to save Tesla.

theyinwhy 1y ago
Tesla [...] losing $15.3 billion in brand value: https://brandfinance.com/press-releases/toyota-is-the-worlds-most-valuable-auto-brand-while-tesla-continues-to-lose-brand-value https://brandfinance.com/press-releases/toyota-is-the-worlds...

AngryData 1y ago

The vast majority of their battery cells are made in China and Japan so im not sure how they even qualify. Oh yeah, corruption.

henry2023 1y ago
It’s not corruption it’s just paying back for the votes Elon bought with this 1 million a day program on swing states. Uhm, wait a moment.
panick21_ 1y ago
They can qualify because unlike most automakers they do actually have significant investment in their own battery supply-chain.
MrFreebus 1y ago
Tesla produces most of their batteries in Nevada.

esalman 1y ago

The irony here is that Democrats, for more than a decade, did anything and everything, by bankrolling taxpayers money into incentives and subsidies, to protect Tesla, help it compete and even flourish and scale, in the auto market where margins are razor thin and true innovations are hard to come by, even less so from smaller players. Nobody, except Republicans, batted an eye because climate change, science and environment comes first supposedly.

hiddencost 1y ago
[flagged]
- A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y ago
  He is right you know. He managed to fleece dems and is now fleecing the other side. Neutral observer can only stay in awe of his talents.
  - esalman 1y ago
    Thanks, I am indeed talking as a neutral observer. It's been almost 7 years since I realized how much of a nutcase he is. Some democrats only realized it 8 months ago.
    - Capricorn2481 1y ago
      > Some democrats only realized it 8 months ago This is some wild revisionist history. Democrats have been sounding off about Musk for years. He endorsed Trump way back in 2020. Nobody is learning anything new about him. On the contrary, everyone is dug in with how they feel about him because it's too late to do anything about it, so they might as well pretend everything is fine.
      - esalman 1y ago
        He voted for Biden in 2020.

AlotOfReading 1y ago

I'm not sure even Tesla unambiguously qualifies here. Looking at the NHTSA part 583 list for 2025 [0], none of the Tesla vehicles have a "US" content higher than 75% (which I think includes Canada?). The highest is the base Kia EV6 at 80%. This seems to be coming from the Kogod manufacturing index. That's a more qualitative ranking that attempts to deal with things like corporate structures rather than just origin like the NHTSA numbers. As someone who works in the industry, "where" something comes from is an inherently fuzzy concept. Different parts of the government use radically different definitions. For example, under NAFTA "domestic" parts are usually things manufactured anywhere in North America. This was done to onshore automotive manufacturing that wasn't realistically going to come back to the US, but political leaders didn't want to stay in Asia. One result of these tariffs may actually be that more auto manufacturing moves to Asia as the advantage of North American manufacturing is lost. [0] https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2025-04/MY2025-AALA-Alphabetical%204_7_2025.pdf https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2025-04/MY2025-A...

Suppafly 1y ago
My immediate assumption was that Tesla lies and probably has more offshore content than most of their competitors.
- kurthr 1y ago
  Exactly, corruption is legal. Only your competitors will be fined.
  - decremental 1y ago
    [dead]
  - matttproud 1y ago
    Give the U.S. ten years and "clientelism" will have become a household word.
    - 1y ago

Aloisius 1y ago

From the 2025 Part 583 for this year: - Tesla model 3 - 70-75% US/Canada content - Tesla model Y - 70% US/Canada content - Tesla Cybertruck - 65% US/Canada content - Tesla model S - 65% US/Canada content Perhaps it is calculated differently since no one hits 85%. https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2025-04/MY2025-AALA-Percentage%204_7_2025.pdf https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2025-04/MY2025-A...

Jensson 1y ago
They probably include Mexico, add that and Tesla is above 85% according to that list.

tim333 1y ago

Apparently you get a credit of 15% of the car price to use against imported parts so presumably something like a Mustang with 20% imported parts would pay tariffs on a quarter of the value of the parts.

jmward01 1y ago

Unfortunately companies have a bigger voice than people. Until that isn't the case there will always be doubts about the 'neutrality' of a particular law/policy/etc. The bigger thing here is that this particular administration rarely, if ever, does things in a 'neutral' manor. It is always 100% transactional with Trump. There is absolutely no doubt that the 85% is designed to give Tesla, and more specifically Musk, a huge win. It is foolish or outright disingenuous to even pretend that this isn't the case.

HarHarVeryFunny 1y ago

So how does this encourage a shift to domestic manufacturing? It's basically a reward for those who have already done what you want rather than incentivizing those who's behavior you'd like to change. It's a carrot for sure, but the carrot is out of reach since now you're putting financial stress on those you're hoping to bear the cost of moving onshore by giving an advantage to their competitors. It's similar to giving special status to Apple by not penalizing their China-based manufacturing, then hoping that OTHER not-too-big-to-fail companies will be able to do what Apple couldn't (manufacture at a competitively cheap price onshore) while additionally facing this unfair competition. It seems it'd be more effective to have incremental (based on % domestic manufacture & labor) rewards/penalties for those making changes rather than carve-outs for those too-big-to-fail and making competition even harder for those you are trying to incentivize. Also, never mind manufacturing - how about addressing IT offhsoring, which is something far easier for US companies to change if incentivized/penalized appropriately. Is it really domestic clothing sweatshops that we want to encourage, not domestic high-tech industry with well paying jobs, paying high taxes, and helping retain onshore talent in an area of importance to national security?

JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> how does this encourage a shift to domestic manufacturing? It doesn’t. Trump is clearly trying to negotiate these tariffs away. So they don’t incentivise moving production. Just taxing everyone but Musk.
- andreygrehov 1y ago
  Honda reported that it's shifting the production of Civic Hybrid from Mexico to Indiana. This one example alone illustrates that your statement is incorrect.
thrance 1y ago
That was yesterday's narrative, keep up! Now tariffs were a plan to pressure our allies to renegotiate their trade deals with us in our favor, and that worked great! (According to the white house (Also forget that not a single deal was made)). Oops! Scratch that, now that China won't back down on their retaliatory tariffs, they were always a tool to make China "fall back in line" or something. Yeah, destroying our own economy ought to teach them a lesson. This shit is so transparent, I'm amazed as to how 30% of the country can still endorse this clown and his circus. My mental image of the average republican voter is now that of a toddler trying to fit a square into a circle hole while drooling on themselves.

cosmicgadget 1y ago

Let me make sure I understand this: the president is addressing the fentanyl state of emergency by tariffing imported vehicle parts from wherever?

crummy 1y ago
nobody said winning the war on drugs was gonna be easy
- croisillon 1y ago
  winning the war against economy proves easier
- cozzyd 1y ago
  the trick is to make people too poor to afford drugs.
  - sitkack 1y ago
    Make crime unaffordable!
cozzyd 1y ago
Fentanyl is smuggled into the country with foreign auto parts, obviously.
Hamuko 1y ago
I'm guessing American cars are more unreliable and might break down before they manage to deliver the fentanyl.
neuroelectron 1y ago
You're not wrong to raise an eyebrow here — the connection between fentanyl and imported vehicle parts isn't exactly intuitive. Let's unpack this.
- spicybbq 1y ago

jheriko 1y ago

[dead]

tonetheman 1y ago

[dead]

kevin_thibedeau 1y ago

Can a manufacturer game this by separating domestic components into sub-assemblies?

CyberDildonics 1y ago

This was predictable and frequently predicted when musk got involved. Of course there would be new rules that would be written specifically so hurt his competitors and not him. That's why tesla stock rose sharply when trump won.

oxqbldpxo 1y ago

Don't look Up! Great movie.

insane_dreamer 1y ago

Ah yes, the "free market" at work! Also a friendly reminder that all these tariffs are being made possible by a "state of emergency" declared by Trump because of fentanyl coming from Canada and China. Otherwise, only Congress would have the power to impose tarriffs. So shall we just be honest and say we're heading towards a centrally planned economy, China style?

queenkjuul 1y ago
That we should be so lucky. Chinese Central planning actually gets useful stuff done, little hope of that from this lot

Mystery-Machine 1y ago

Odd how sentiment about Elon Musk changed rapidly... Some HN users pointed out in the comments here that not even Teslas reach 85%. Is the article wrong? Interesting that everyone is talking about favoriting, but no one talks the anti-favoriting of Tesla during the Biden administration. Tesla wasn't invited to any EV conference that was organized by the previous admin. They are the biggest EV factory in the US yet somehow they were never invited...smh

tenpies 1y ago
It's also quite telling that this gets attention and rampant cries about the oligarchy and cronyism, but not a peep about: > New York state lawmakers have launched an effort to shut down Tesla’s stores in the state From: https://electrek.co/2025/04/28/ny-lawmakers-shut-down-teslas-stores/ https://electrek.co/2025/04/28/ny-lawmakers-shut-down-teslas... > WA Legislature considers new tax aimed at Elon Musk’s Tesla From: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-legislature-considers-new-tax-aimed-at-elon-musks-tesla/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-legisl... "For my friends? Anything! For my enemies? The law [and new taxes]!"
- actionfromafar 1y ago
  I thought State Rights were so, very, very important?
tzs 1y ago
One of those was to promote EVs built with union labor. They only invited the companies with the largest union workforces. The other EV meetings organized by the Biden administration were all specifically about EVs in the context of specific legislation the administration was proposing, and they only invited companies that were supporting that legislation.

rcpt 1y ago

Still never gonna buy one.

ashu1461 1y ago

Tesla Model S is also not exempted ?

gnarlouse 1y ago

Cool soo.... that's an oligarchy. Can we boot these dickfucks from office yet? Jesus christ

ChicagoDave 1y ago

Not going to change the buying market. A lot of people will never buy a Tesla. There are options, with more choices coming next year.

rco8786 1y ago
> Not going to change the buying market. Price changes absolutely change the buying market. What a weird thing to say. A lot of people will never buy a Tesla, a lot still will (they delivered 300k+ vehicles in Q1). The ones who still will buy will also consider the price.
- ChicagoDave 1y ago
  No company can withstand political backlash at a national scale. Tesla has lost significant ground just because Merlin started playing politics. Target is suffering badly from their DEI decision. Globally, Tesla is in even worse shape. No one in Europe will be buy one now. China makes their own EVs. The stock is being propped up by institutional investors. Eventually even that will collapse.
  - rco8786 1y ago
    All of those things are true, and none of that is mutually exclusive to price changes affecting (what is left of) the buyer demand.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
natch 1y ago
Those people will buy and own exactly what they deserve.

derelicta 1y ago

I love how capitalists got so confident lately, they even lay bare their own corruption. Makes sense tho, they know no one will oppose them.

tritipsocial 1y ago

This headline is misleading because it makes it seem like tariffs are a step function that activate below 85%, which isn't true. The formula is a simple, linear equation: tariffs = 0.25 * MSRP * (percent foreign content - 15) Companies with 84% domestic content will pay a 25% tariff on 1% of the MSRP, companies with 70% domestic content will pay a 25% tariff on 15% of the MSRP, etc. This is a common sense way to incentivize companies to make parts here without requiring perfection. Here is the proclamation: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/amendments-to-adjusting-imports-of-automobiles-and-automobile-parts-into-the-united-states/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/amen...

mft_ 1y ago
> This headline is misleading because it makes it seem like tariffs are a step function that activate below 85%, which isn't true. > The formula is a simple, linear equation: tariffs = 0.25 * MSRP * (percent foreign content - 15) Um... unless I'm missing something, agree it's not a if/then rule, but in practice, that's exactly how the formula works? 84% domestic = 16% foreign = 0.25 * MSRP * (16-15) = 25% tariff on 1% of MSRP 85% domestic = 15% foreign = 0.25 * MSRP * (15-15) = 25% tariff on 0% of MSRP - which is nothing 86% domestic = 15% foreign = 0.25 * MSRP * (14-15) = 25% tariff on -1% of MSRP - but let's assume the Gov't isn't going to pay companies so effectively 0% again So yes, it's a tariff that effectively activates below 85% domestic content.
- tempestn 1y ago
  Your parent's point is that it does not suddenly apply to the full value when exceeding 15% foreign content.
  - ta1243 1y ago
    The headline doesn't say that Any vehicle at 85% is exempt Any vehicle at 84.999% or less pays a tarrif That tarrif may be 1 cent or $100,000, the headline doesn't say anything about that. Given the need for transparency though it would be best if every item bought in america highlights the exact cost of the tarrif, same as it highlights sales tax. Indeed America is fairly unique in advertising pre tax prices (buy a can of coke for $1, it comes to $1.07 at the store), it would make sense if prices were also advertised pre tarrif too, in terms of transparency. I wonder how the administration could encourage that.

asdfman123 1y ago

"What would the world's richest man stand to gain by cozying up to the Trump administration?"

Animats 1y ago

STATUS CHANGE: Incoming Trump change on auto tariffs in last few hours.[1] Not fully analyzed in the press yet. [1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-scales-back-tariffs-on-automakers-but-analysts-still-expect-car-prices-to-rise/ar-AA1DQtJi https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-scales-back-ta...

casenmgreen 1y ago

The corruption of dictatorship. This, in all its many forms, is part of why the economies of dictatorships perform badly.

jaimex2 1y ago

I didn't see any of this whingeing when Biden was making EV incentives that blatantly excluded Tesla. This is what happens when you go along with lawfare or weaponized government. The canon gets turned around and pointed the other way soon enough.

tzs 1y ago
> I didn't see any of this whingeing when Biden was making EV incentives that blatantly excluded Tesla. Examples? Here are the EV incentives that I'm aware of that happened during the Biden administration. • $7500 tax credit for qualifying vehicles. It only applies to cars below a certain MSRP which disqualified the Tesla Models S and X, but that same limit excluded many other cars from many other companies too. The rest of Tesla's models have many configurations below the MSRP cutoff that did qualify. There were also rules on battery materials sourcing, which disqualified about 80% of the EVs that were then available in the US. Those did hit some specific trims of the Model 3 for a few months but Tesla was able to switch to using the same batteries that the unaffected Model 3 trims used, restoring the credit. • The National Electrical Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which provided grants for building EV charging infrastructure. Tesla qualified and received considerable money from NEVI grants. • There were some grants specifically intended to boost EV manufacturing with union workers. Tesla does not have any unionized plants so was de facto excluded. • There were grants for building a network of EV truck charges. Tesla submitted a project proposal but it was not accepted. What else was there?

InDubioProRubio 1y ago

The protective moat, the death of innovation

yuppii 1y ago

[flagged]

hsuduebc2 1y ago
Care to elaborate?
- yuppii 1y ago
  [dead]

theodric 1y ago

The headline is misleading. It should be edited to say "Only two Tesla models" rather than "Only Tesla."

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago

Someone said to me, the other day: “If you want to buy a car made in the US, get a BMW. If you want to buy a car made in Mexico, get a Ford.”

otikik 1y ago

They are speedrunning the "Banana Republic" achievement.

tTTempOrary 1y ago

There is a thing, i call "cos-playing" - where basically everybody agrees upon a "golden past" and by "reenacting" the golden past in clothing, language and behaviour, this "golden past" will be brought back and forced to stay. Not in the picture are external circumstances, circumstances the golden past brought about, that make a repetition impossible (pension systems calcifying society, monopolies, etc. ). The truely dangerous phase is reached, when the frantic cosplaying shows no effect and the conclusion slowly crawls towards "insanity is what you do with your life". Because then you have people with nowhere to go and the tools of the past, wishing for an end.

hsuduebc2 1y ago

Well. Well. Well.

mlindner 1y ago

Flagging this for the highly misleading headline. It makes it sound as if Tesla is getting some kind of carve out which is the furthest thing from the truth.

LightBug1 1y ago

How many memecoins did Musk purchase for this exemption? Or was it an in-kind deal for his amateur-hack-a-billy work at DOGE? Musk as presidential prostitute is not something I had on my bingo card when he first arrived on the scene. This is the kind of bullshit your reputation will never recover from - no matter how many puff pieces you buy or retweet. RIP Tesla. RIP Elon.

ThinkBeat 1y ago

This is reasonably close to a continuation of what the Biden administration did. Though they did it with tax credits not tariffs. To get the tax break you had to buy a car made in America. (Which pissed off car makers outside the US) If I understand the below from NPR, then few electric cars qualified back then as wel, and one of the few was Tesla Model Y "As of May 3, 2024, eligible vehicles include the best-selling Tesla Model Y, the budget-friendly Chevrolet Bolt (which is no longer in production, but can still be found on some dealer lots), the Volkswagen ID.4 " https://www.npr.org/2023/12/28/1219158071/ev-electric-vehicles-tax-credit-car-shopping-tesla-ford-vw-gm https://www.npr.org/2023/12/28/1219158071/ev-electric-vehicl...

scotty79 1y ago

What a coincidence.