In a letter to the Trump administration this week, the Electric Automobile manufacturer Tesla raised concerns about the continuous tariffs of President Donald Trump, warning that the company could be “exposed” to retaliation rates and urge the administration to “consider subsequent impacts.”
The comments were made in a letter without signing on the Tesla letterhead to the commercial representative of the United States Jamison Greer. It occurred after the Ustr office earlier this year said it would carry out a “review of unfair commercial practices.”
The letter, dated March 11, comes from the company of the Technological Billionaire Elon Musk, who has been leading the effort to reduce government expenditure and reduce the size of the Federal workforce. It is not clear if Musk was personally involved in sending the letter, and has not been directed on its social media platform, X.
As ABC News has reported, some Tesla shareholders publicly questioned Musk’s commitment to the company, since Tesla’s actions have fallen dramatically since Musk joined the Trump administration.
“As manufacturer and exporter of the United States, Tesla encourages Ustr to consider subsequent impacts of certain proposed actions taken to address unfair commercial practices,” said the letter.
Tesla representatives did not answer ABC News questions, including questions about who wrote the letter. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
In the letter, Tesla said that the tariff actions of the Trump administration have resulted in “immediate reactions” by the target countries, including the largest tariffs in electric vehicles.
President Donald Trump, accompanied by the main advisor of the White House, the CEO of Tesla and Spacex, Elon Musk, speaks next to a Tesla Model S in the South Law of the White House, on March 11, 2025 in Washington.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“The previous special tariff actions of the United States have increased (1) costs for Tesla for vehicles made in the United States, and (2) higher costs for those same vehicles when exported from the United States, which results in a less competitive international market for US manufacturers,” said the letter. “USTR should investigate ways to avoid these difficulties in future actions.”
The letter also urged the administration to take into account the problems of the supply chain when it comes to “future commercial policy actions,” pointing, as an example, what they say are the shortage of lithium -ion batteries despite the company’s own efforts to manufacture them nationwide.
“However, even with the aggressive location of the supply chain, certain parts and components are difficult or impossible to obtain within the United States,” says the letter. “Tesla supports a Ustr process to additionally evaluate the limitations of the National Supply chain to ensure that US manufacturers are not unduly charged by commercial actions that may result in the imposition of prohibitive cost tariffs in the necessary components or other import restrictions on essential elements to support the manufacturing work of the United States.
“Commercial actions should not (and not need) to conflict with the objectives to increase and support national manufacturing even more,” said the letter.
ABC News’ Will Steakin and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
