It feels like not long ago that Donald Trump was congratulating Tesla CEO Elon Musk for the new Giga Texas factory, and for reopening its Fremont factory before the state of California said it was okay. And now, Musk and Tesla have decided to take action against Trump, to retain its right to importing Chinese microchips and other automotive hardware.
On Wednesday it was announced that Tesla has sued the US government in hopes to block tariffs placed by the Trump administration on automotive parts being imported from China, as reported by Yahoo Finance. The company is set to lose out on $50 million (USD) as a result of the tariffs, unless it can win a lawsuit against the Trump administration and repeal the trade laws responsible.
The lawsuit would effectively refund Tesla for its lost income through tariffs, as well as repealing the tariffs for the future.
https://twitter.com/therealpyd/status/1309104762315513856
Robert Lighthizer, acting US Trade Representative, is directly named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Lighthizer has already denied a previous request to remove tariffs on Tesla’s computer displays, which are also imported from China.
Since Thursday and Friday alone, the US trade court has seen 300 separate lawsuits filed against the tariffs instituted by Trump. While it’s tough to say what the outcome will be, it also isn’t the first time the US government was under fire for something Trump did – many cases of which are still buried to the public eye today.
