Tesla stock slides after slashing Model X, Model S prices in China

Tesla CEO Elon Musk.Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

• Tesla announced it was slashing Model X and Model S prices in China to offset some of the impact from President Donald Trump’s tariffs. 
• Shares fell 1.8% following the announcement.
• Watch Tesla trade live.

Tesla was sliding Friday, down 1.8% to below $332 a share, after the company announced that it was cutting prices on some vehicles in China to help offset some of the impact from President Donald Trump’s trade war.

The electric-car maker on Thursday said it was slashing prices on its Model X and Model S vehicles in China by 12% to 26% to make them more “affordable,” Reuters reported. 

“We are absorbing a significant part of the tariff to help make our cars more affordable for customers in China,” Tesla said in a statement sent to Reuters. 

The announcement comes just over four months after Tesla announced a 20% price increase in China in response to Beijing’s announcement that it would retaliate for Trump imposing tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods.

It has been a roller coaster ride for Tesla shareholders in the second half of 2018. The stock topped out above $387 on August 7, the day CEO Elon Musk said he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 a share. Musk didn’t have funding secured, and he later settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which had accused him of misleading the public. As part of the settlement, he agreed to step down as chairman for at least three years and pay a fine of $20 million.

Tesla’s stock tumbled to $250 in the wake of the “funding secured” saga, but was able to hold key support in the area. Shares managed to climb back above $350 after the company crushed third-quarter expectations and named Robyn Denholm, the CFO at Australian telecom Telestra, as its new board chair. 

Tesla was up 8.6% this year through Tuesday.

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