Tesla stock fell on Thursday after an extremely large tariff was imposed on materials used in car batteries.
The New York Times reported that the Commerce Department announced that it intends to issue a 93.5% tax on Chinese graphite, which is necessary for creating the batteries in electric vehicles.
As Bloomberg Technology host Ed Ludlow announced on X, “Tesla just did a puke.”
He posted a screenshot of the stock’s dive after Wednesday’s increases.
Pat Dennis, the president of the liberal group American Bridge, noted that when Trump was elected, he purchased “a bunch of big LiFePO4 batteries.” He noted, “Part of being resilient is keeping access to energy, without always being reliant on a fragile oil-refining supply chain, like you would need to keep a gas generator going for more than a couple days.”
“That’s the goal of the Trump administration,” he continued. “These tariffs aren’t meant to spur local production. We have US-based battery production. He’s taxing all of their inputs to shut them down. They’re also just trying to add bureaucracy — the goal is to keep you fragile and dependent.”
One Tesla owner said he supposed it was time to sell the stock.