Tesla, the world's largest manufacturer of electric cars, decided to do its bit in the trade war between the US and China. Despite being a US-based company, its latest action can hardly be called patriotic.
Tesla has filed a lawsuit against the US government and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. The company wants the court to abolish 25% tariffs on spare parts imported from China. Besides, the elector car marker asked to refund the tariffs it paid with interest. "Increased tariffs on this particular part cause economic harm to Tesla, through the increase of costs and impact to profitability," Tesla pinpointed in its waiver request. Curiously enough, Robert Lighthizer is named the defendant in the case. It appears that Tesla does not care much about patriotic feelings, going against its own government. If the tariffs are abandoned, it will be a serious defeat of the US against China. In 2019, Tesla officials tried to resolve this issue peacefully and asked the White House not to increase tariffs on Chinese-made monitors that are included in the Model 3. "Due to the complexity of the Model 3 Car Computer and the demanding timelines necessary for Tesla’s exponential growth, Tesla is unable to find another manufacturer to meet our requirements," Tesla stated. Naturally, Trump's administration did not listen and imposed duties despite the fact that many companies would suffer humongous losses. Thus, Tesla had no choice but to go to court.
Many economists criticize the US aggressive trade policy. Not long ago, the World Trade Organization (WTO) recognized the United States as a violator of trade rules due to the introduction of tariffs against China without sound reasons. Yet, this decision will not affect Washington's trade policy in any way since the US has outplayed the WTO by limiting the power of the Appeal Body. If the WTO wants to appeal, it will not be able to do so.
