Tesla's autonomous "brain" is affected by the serious tariff of the Trump administration

Image: Artur Widak / NurPhoto / Getty

Tesla will have a hard time innovating to get out of it.

The automaker is facing potentially serious financial difficulties in attempting to equip all newly produced vehicles with the necessary technology to enable autonomous driving. So, reports TechCrunch, who notes that the White House will not move on a 25% tariff on "the engine control unit" assembled by China and which cars need. In particular, this tariff would not apply to the entire car – only to the shield.

The autopilot computer is assembled in Shanghai, which irritates the White House. Tesla formally requested a tariff exemption on the unit in question, but this application was rejected on March 15. The rejection letter had not been reported before this week.

"[After] Your request was rejected because it concerns a product of strategic importance or related to "Made in China 2025" or other Chinese industrial programs, "reads the letter of rejection signed by the company. 39, General Counsel for US Trade Representative Stephen P. Vaughn.

The "Made in China 2025" program, which the the Wall Street newspaper notes is no longer actually referred to in China as this is the country's attempt to revive 10 specific economic sectors. He frustrated US officials that the Newspaper the reports call this a grant program.

So, what does it mean for Tesla? The company and customers who wish to embrace the future of self-driving? Probably a more expensive ride, for one thing.

"This module is the brain of the vehicle," wrote Tesla in its tariff exemption application now dismissed. "Imposed tariffs force us to find a new supplier, pass on increased costs to the end customer, or reduce operational costs in our internal operations, which has the opposite impact on what we believe to be the intention of the tariff. "

According to Tesla, a new supplier is essentially out of the question.

"For an essential product for consumer safety and for the essence of Tesla, we turned to industry experts who could achieve this quality and complexity in addition to deadlines, which was not possible outside of China, "writes the company. aforementioned application. "The choice of another vendor would have delayed the 18-month program with clean room setup, chain validation and staff training."

In other words, it seems that the production – and cost – of self-driving Teslas is about to get an even higher price.