According to CCTV News on March 15,U.S. media reported that U.S. electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla recently sent a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, warning that the U.S. government’s high tariff policy may make Tesla a target of retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Tesla said in the letter that excessive tariffs will drive up the cost of essential U.S. imports. The trade dispute will also face retaliatory measures, resulting in increased tariffs on U.S. exports of electric vehicles, and U.S. exporters will inevitably be disproportionately affected. Tesla believes that even if it actively promotes the localization of the supply chain, "certain parts will still be difficult or impossible to procure within the United States."

The British "Financial Times" stated that Tesla's letter was sent after the U.S. government's recent continuous changes in tariff policies caused panic among businesses and financial markets. Investors are worried that the risk of the United States falling into an economic recession is increasing.

So far, neither the White House nor Tesla CEO Musk has commented on the matter.

The American Motor Vehicle Association has previously said that imposing broad tariffs would disrupt production at U.S. assembly plants. Automakers cannot break out of legacy supply chains overnight, and rising costs will inevitably lead to higher prices, fewer models for consumers and the closure of U.S. production lines.


Image source: CCTV News

Recently, many US media have repeatedly reported rumors of discord between Musk and Trump, including the disagreement between the two on the "Stargate" project in January this year; and the subsequent layoffs of federal government agencies led by Musk as the head of the "Government Efficiency Department". Musk's handling of related layoffs led to dissatisfaction with Musk within the Trump administration.

According to previous news from CCTV News, late at night on March 10, local time, US President Trump stated on social media that Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk was attacked by left-wing radicals. To show his support for Musk, he "Will be buying a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning". Musk immediately replied with thanks.

In a post on the Real Social platform he created, Trump said left-wing activists were "trying to illegally conspire to boycott Tesla" "in order to attack and hurt Elon and everything he stands for."

"No matter what, I will buy a brand new Tesla to show my confidence and support for Elon Musk," Trump wrote.

Musk immediately responded: "Thank you, President."

According to previous news from the China Securities Journal, UBS analysts lowered their expectations for Tesla and lowered the target share price of the electric vehicle manufacturer from US$259 to US$225, while maintaining a "sell" rating. UBS lowered its delivery forecast for the first quarter of 2025 to 367,000 vehicles from its previous estimate of 437,000 vehicles.

Tesla has faced sales difficulties in major global markets this year.

According to Jiemian News, in Europe, Tesla's car sales in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and France fell sharply in February this year year-on-year, and its market share declined. In the first two months of this year, the number of newly registered motor vehicles in France decreased by 45% compared with the same period last year.

Data released by the German Federal Motor Vehicle Traffic Administration (KBA) on March 5 showed that 203,434 new passenger cars were registered in Germany in February, a year-on-year decrease of 6.4%. Data show that Tesla’s sales in Germany plummeted 76% year-on-year to 1,429 vehicles in February.

In the Chinese market, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed that Tesla’s wholesale sales in China in February were 30,688 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 49% and a month-on-month decrease of 51%. Tesla's sales in the United States have experienced negative growth for four consecutive months.

According to CCTV News, data released by Tesla in the United States on January 2 showed that Tesla will deliver fewer cars in 2024 than in 2023. This is the first year-on-year decline in the company’s annual car deliveries in more than a decade.

According to data released by the car company, Tesla will deliver a total of approximately 1.79 million vehicles globally in 2024, a 1.1% decrease from 2023. The Associated Press reports that this is Tesla's first year-on-year decline in annual vehicle deliveries since 2011.

Industry insiders pointed out that Tesla has been trying to promote high growth in car sales in recent years. Although Tesla has adopted promotional strategies such as significant price cuts in the past few years, challenges such as an aging model lineup and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles are dragging down its growth targets.

In April 2024, Tesla announced it would lay off more than 10% of its global employees to cut costs and increase productivity. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at the time that the layoffs would allow the company to stay lean, innovate and enter its next growth cycle.

UBS lowered Tesla's delivery forecast for the first quarter of this year to 367,000 vehicles from the previous estimate of 437,000 vehicles.

It is also worth noting that on March 3, local time, documents submitted by Tesla to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that Tesla Chairman Robyn Denholm reduced his holdings of 112,390 Tesla ordinary shares, worth approximately US$33.7 million.