Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares are getting a modest boost Wednesday following reports that the company might qualify for a lower EU duty on its Chinese-made EVs.
According to Politico, European Union inspectors visited the company’s Shanghai factory last week to evaluate whether cars manufactured at the facility were receiving unfair and excessive subsidies from the Chinese government.
After slapping a 38.1% duty on Chinese EV imports into the EU, a senior European Commission official accused Chinese-made EVs of being subsidized “from mine to EU harbor.” EU regulators then set to evaluate which companies are more heavily subsidized than others.
Fortunately for Tesla (TSLA), the largest exporter of EVs from China into Europe, EU regulators reversed an earlier decision to exclude Tesla (TSLA) from its inspections, a decision that might have resulted in higher tariffs for the company’s cars coming into Europe. Tesla (TSLA) lawyers argued that by excluding the company from the inspections, it could be hit with a weighted average tariff of 21% that would apply to all imports of non-sampled Chinese-made EVs.
The regulators’ findings will be published on Thursday with a final decision in November that will be put to a vote by all EU governments.
Tesla (TSLA) shares are up more than 6%.