Tesla, in a letter, tells Trump administration it's worried about tariffs
In a letter to the Trump administration this week, electric automaker Tesla raised concerns about President Donald Trump's ongoing tariffs, warning that the company could be "exposed" to retaliatory tariffs and urging the administration to "consider the downstream impacts."
The comments were made in an unsigned letter on Tesla letterhead to United States Trade Representative Jamison Greer. It came after the USTR office earlier this year said it would be conducting a "review of unfair trade practices."
The letter, dated March 11, comes from the company of tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been leading the effort to slash government spending and downsize the federal workforce. It's unclear if Musk was personally involved in sending the letter, and he has not addressed it on his social media platform, X.
As ABC News has reported, some Tesla shareholders have publicly questioned Musk's commitment to the company as Tesla shares have fallen dramatically since Musk joined the Trump administration.
"As a U.S. manufacturer and exporter, Tesla encourages USTR to consider the downstream impacts of certain proposed actions taken to address unfair trade practices," the letter said.
Tesla representatives did not respond to questions from ABC News, including questions regarding who wrote the letter. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the letter, Tesla noted that tariff actions by the Trump administration have resulted in "immediate reactions" by the targeted countries, including increased tariffs on electric vehicles.
"Past U.S. special tariff actions have thus (1) increased costs to Tesla for vehicles manufactured in the United States, and (2) increased costs for those same vehicles when exported from the United States, resulting in less competitive international marketplace for U.S. manufacturers," the letter said. "USTR should investigate ways to avoid these pitfalls in future actions."
The letter also urged the administration to take into consideration supply chain issues when it comes to "future trade policy actions," pointing, as an example, to what they say are shortages of lithium-ion batteries despite the company's own efforts to manufacture them domestically.
"Nonetheless, even with aggressive localization of the supply chain, certain parts and components are difficult or impossible to source within the United States," the letter states. "Tesla supports a process by USTR to further evaluate domestic supply chain limitations to ensure that U.S. manufacturers are not unduly burdened by trade actions that could result in the imposition of cost-prohibitive tariffs on necessary components, or other import restrictions on items essential to support U.S. manufacturing jobs.
"Trade actions should not (and need not) conflict with objectives to further increase and support domestic manufacturing," the letter said.
ABC News' Will Steakin and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
