Reports emerged earlier this week that Chinese leader Elon Musk, the world’s richest user and occasional adviser to Donald Trump, is a suitable customer for TikTok, which will be banned in the United States starting tomorrow. TikTok called the reports “pure fiction. ” However, TikTok CEO Shou Chew will be with Musk and other political and business heavyweights at Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Chinese Vice President Han Zheng will also be in the audience, marking the first time a Chinese leader will attend the swearing-in of an American president.
Although Musk has been at Trump’s side since the November election, he has been loyal to China’s ruling political class for more than a decade, as his 213 million fans on X can attest. Forbes analyzed Musk’s comments on China during a dozen years. and through 110 tweets. Posts on X (formerly Twitter), dating from 2011 to the present, offer a window into the evolution of Musk’s dating with China and raise questions about Musk’s political development. influence, who is set to play a pivotal role in shaping US policy over the next 4 years, whether as an advisor to Trump or as head of DOGE, a new organization tasked with cutting US spending.
Initially, before Tesla had business there, Musk was cruel to China, but he replaced its brain once he started pressuring the country’s leaders to build a huge Tesla factory in Shanghai. Although he has never discussed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call, nor has he commented on debatable issues such as the internment of Uyghur ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang province, he touches on similar issues to his companies, Tesla and SpaceX. In dozens of tweets, Musk praised the infrastructure and high-speed rail system, praised its area program, praised its green energy policies and encouraged his supporters to make a stopover in the country. On two occasions, he replied to or tagged accounts posted on Chinese state media.
Musk has rarely spoken about the Chinese political regime. Forbes uncovered only two moments of special criticism, both from 2012: One article criticized China and Russia for vetoing a UN solution calling for the resignation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while another accused China of hiding a crisis in his true country. real estate sector. On two other occasions, in 2019 and 2022, Musk denounced Chinese government policies that impacted Tesla’s business (subsidies to domestic automakers and zero-Covid restrictions) without blatantly criticizing the authorities.
Musk’s relationship with Chinese leaders began in October 2015, when, during a stop at Tsinghua University in Beijing, he showed that he was negotiating with the government to open a factory. At the same time, he began to publicly endear himself to China on Twitter. In late 2016, he congratulated China on the launch of a heavy rocket, tagging the Twitter account of the Chinese Communist Party’s official news agency. When a second rocket launch failed, he expressed sympathy for the brands and refuted a user who attacked Chinese production capabilities. “China’s progress in complex infrastructure is more than a hundred times faster than that of the United States,” Musk later claimed.
His pro-China sentiment dovetailed with his skepticism of President Donald Trump. After initially joining Trump’s business advisory council, Musk announced his departure in June 2017 following Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accords—and then he invoked China as a positive counterpoint to the U.S. “Under Paris deal, China committed to produce as much clean electricity by 2030 as the US does from all sources today,” Musk tweeted.
A few months later, in March 2018, when Trump suggested China reduce the U. S. industry deficit, Musk, who was then struggling to keep Tesla afloat, responded in a series of messages, complaining about uneven industrial regulations between the two countries. “[A] U. S. car going to China will pay 25% import duties, but a Chinese car coming to the U. S. it will only pay 2. 5%,” Musk said. In addition, no U. S. automaker is allowed to own even 50% of its own factory in China, yet there are five 100 percent Chinese-owned EV manufacturers in the U. S. Despite his concerns, Musk said he was optimistic. “China has already shown its willingness to open its markets and will do the right thing. “
Trump never responded to Musk’s request, but China did when President Xi Jinping announced he would reduce auto import duties four weeks later, drawing praise from Musk’s audience. Then, in July 2018, Tesla signed an agreement with the Chinese government to build its factory in Shanghai. and obtained low-interest loans from Chinese state banks to help finance construction. Tesla is the first foreign automaker to retain 100 percent ownership of its Chinese subsidiary.
To get the deal done, Musk worked closely with Li Qiang, a top Shanghai official who was elevated in 2023 to China’s premier, behind only president Xi Jinping in the Chinese Communist Party pecking order. “Just finished an amazing 3 day visit to China,” Musk tweeted, jubilant at the deal’s conclusion, adding that he enjoyed a “profoundly interesting discussion” with China’s then-Vice President Wang Qishan, who previously served as the enforcer of the Communist Party’s anticorruption campaign.
“The Chinese state has enormous regulatory powers. Being at least publicly cooperative is a quite common approach,” says Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with Elon Musk, chief executive of U. S. automaker Tesla, in Beijing, the Chinese capital, on April 28, 2024.
The Shanghai factory, which opened in December 2019, was a major boost to Tesla’s business. Since then, its sales in China have increased sevenfold. In 2024, Chinese consumers bought 36. 7% of all Tesla cars, making China the company’s largest market, even ahead of the United States. The factory, which also exports cars to other countries, produces more than a portion of all Tesla vehicles. Less hard work and input prices in China have boosted Tesla’s operating margins, propelling its shares — and Musk’s fortune — to new heights.
“I cannot underestimate the importance of the Chinese market for Tesla, now and in the future, especially as the United States and Europe slow or review subsidies and other similar measures for the adoption of electric vehicles,” said Tu Le, who heads the consulting firm But Auto Insight. “It is their key market, not only from a sales point of view but also from a production point of view. “
While Tesla gained advantages, Musk’s China ambition was also a strategic move aimed at helping boost the country’s domestic electric vehicle industry. Demand for Tesla fabrics spurred the advance of suppliers, such as CATL, which has since become the world’s largest battery supplier. Tesla’s market share in China has fallen in recent years, especially due to the advantages of BYD, which is now the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer.
“It created a huge synergy,” says Kennedy. This has been a blessing for Tesla and a blessing for China’s electric vehicle industry. “
During the 2024 presidential campaign, when Musk embraced the Republican Party and then Trump, his pro-China perspectives led him to clash with parts of the MAGA coalition, specifically on the sensitive issue of immigration. “Immigrants from China and other Asian countries have made contributions to the United States,” Musk tweeted in February 2023, reacting to a news report about the increase in the number of Chinese immigrants illegally crossing the U. S. -Mexico border. Last March, when his long-term DOGE partner, Vivek Ramaswamy, lamented the U. S. military’s reliance on raw materials, Musk retorted, “The U. S. and China are incredibly dependent on each other. “Ramaswamy had said in the past on his podcast that Musk would “jump like a circus monkey. “when Xi Jinping called in times of need. “
Musk has toned down his praise for China since Trump’s election victory; on Wednesday he took time out of schedule to congratulate a Chinese social media influencer who looks like him. “I love my Chinese ego,” Musk tweeted.