Tesla is bringing production of its Cybercab and Semi trucks back to the United States. The company will start shipping parts from China to US factories by the end of May, after trade talks between Washington and Beijing ended with an agreement to remove most of the tariffs.
This deal, reached during a weekend meeting in Geneva, means Tesla can get back to work on building the two models that had been delayed when President Donald Trump raised import taxes to 145% last month.
According to Reuters, that spike in tariffs had forced Tesla to halt its original plans. But with the new truce in place, the company is restarting its production timeline.
The Cybercab, a self-driving vehicle with no pedals or steering wheel, will be assembled in Texas, and the Semi, a commercial truck model, will be built in Nevada. Tesla wants to start test production of both models in October, with full production scheduled for 2026.
That timeline is unchanged from the one the company laid out last year, when it first unveiled the Cybercab and said the starting price would be under $30,000.
The robotaxi project still needs green lights from several state regulators, but Tesla is moving ahead anyway. The company also plans to finally begin delivering the Semi trucks it owes to clients like PepsiCo, who have been waiting since the product was announced. Tesla says all of this can move faster now that shipments from China are back on track.
Trump tariffs triggered the halt but Elon Musk pushed back
Elon Musk made it clear during Tesla’s first-quarter earnings call that he personally lobbied Trump to cut tariffs. “I pushed for lower tariffs to Trump,” Elon said. “But the decision was ultimately up to the President.” His comment showed how frustrated he was that the policy was slowing down production. Despite being one of Trump’s political allies, Elon has always backed free trade and doesn’t support taxes on imports.
This trade mess was only one part of Elon’s problems. Back at Tesla’s headquarters in Texas, the board of directors is now trying to figure out how to pay Elon after a Delaware court threw out his 2018 pay package.
That deal was the largest compensation award in US history, worth $56 billion when it was first challenged, $146 billion at its highest point in December, and now around $98 billion based on the stock’s current price.
In January 2024, Judge Kathaleen McCormick said the package was way too big. She ruled that Tesla’s board gave Elon everything he wanted and acted, in her words, “like supine servants of an overweening master.” The board had set up the deal in a way that gave him total control if the company hit specific targets—and he met all of them by 2023.
New committee formed to fix Elon’s pay deal
To deal with the fallout, Tesla set up a special committee to create a new compensation plan. The group only has two people: Robyn Denholm, who chairs the board, and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, a director who wasn’t involved in the original 2018 deal.
The company slipped news of the committee into a one-sentence line in a recent filing, and since then, shareholders and big investors have started contacting the board to give their opinions on Elon’s future.
Tesla is also delaying its annual shareholder meeting, which is normally held in May or June, because the committee needs more time to finish the new pay proposal. The new plan could include more stock options, but only if Tesla reaches specific business goals. Nothing has been finalized yet.
This is not the only scandal Tesla’s board is facing. In January, many directors agreed to give back more than $900 million in stock and cash to end a lawsuit that said their pay was too high. Denholm alone has sold $538 million in Tesla stock since joining the board in 2014, including $198 million in the past six months.
Wilson-Thompson is the only person left who can work on the new deal without a conflict of interest. Everyone else had either been part of writing the original 2018 package or had personal ties to Elon and had to recuse themselves.
KEY Difference Wire: the secret tool crypto projects use to get guaranteed media coverage
