Tesla

Tesla motors is planning on building electric cars in China. China had an import tax of 25% on US cars but was planning on lowering that to 15%. Recently Trump raised import taxes on some Chinese goods so they retaliated by raising the their auto tax to 40%. Tesla could not compete with even a 15% tax so they are going to build the cars in China thus avoiding the tax. The interesting thing about this deal is that China will not require Tesla to go into a joint venture which is what China has always done in the past. This is a departure from a rather strict rule and may mean an easing of import rules in general. China normally requires the companies coming into their country to allow the Chinese government to own 51% of the company which means they have access to the company records including research and development. China is attempting to reduce air pollution by going to electric cars but they have an uphill battle since 66% of their electricity comes from coal fired power plants. They would be better served if they concentrated on changing their coal plants over to natural gas.