Comments by "tooltalk" (@tooltalk) on "Tesla Is One Target of EU EV Probe" video.

  1. There are legal subsidies, usually given to domestically produced and consumed goods (eg, food, defense industries). Then there are illegal subsidies: China, as a member of WTO, is prohibited from giving any subsidy contingent on export performance, or on the use of domestic over imported goods. So for instance, China's subsidies were given only to EVs with domestic batteries made by domestic companies over foreign companies -- even if they were made in China, since 2015. That would be illegal. I'm guessing that the EU has its own set of rules similar to this and if Tesla benefitted directly (eg, direct subsidy) or indirectly (eg, discount on battery cost, or other in-kind preferential treatment) for satisfying some sort of "export quota," or "domestic batteries quota," Tesla could be in trouble. This might have been why Tesla so eagerly switched to largely unproven inferior LFP early on and Tesla was treated differently from other foreign automakers doing business in China. I don't see any inconsistency with the EU's EV subsidy within the EU -- since it's not a major EV exporter and does not discriminate based on the country of manufacture, or origin.
    1