Elon Musk's Boring Co. Asks For Exemption From US-China Tariff War

Tesla CEO Elon Musk who recently garnered attention from all over the world with his decision to take Tesla, private, has now asked the Trump administration to provide with an exemption for its company Boring for some of the Chinese-made tunnel boring engine components. 

The letter was submitted by the billionaire engineer to the government on July 31 but surfaced on the government's website recently. In the letter, the company had requested the US Trade Representative to exempt parts like cutter-heads, screw conveyors, and related, machinery. 

Boring Co. in the letter has sought  "limited parts from China in the near-term for use in a small number of tunnel boring machines." which are "readily available only from China."

The company led by Elon Musk added that it was "working to develop and manufacture our own tunnel boring machines" and wants to "restore the now-dormant American tunnel boring machine industry."

Proposed Washington to Baltimore tunnel, according to the company will experience a delay of at least two years if both countries with their tariff wars. 

Apart from that, the company clarified that the exemption won't harm the US industry as the plans were not included in China's 'Made in 2025' plan. Adding to this the company said that its business model was aimed at 'substantially' reducing the construction cost of tunnels in the country. 

READ | Samsung To Launch New Premium Smartphone To Take On OnePlus 6

The company, since June, has been promoting building underground high-speed transit options that would reach a speed of up to 240kph. The plan, however, begs to be clarified as it states that the high-speed transport used in the plan would be completely autonomous and that would not utilize any kind of railway equipment. 

This news comes a few days after the billionaire engineer in a tweet earlier, stated that he had planned to take the company private at a rate of $420 per share which was 20 percent premium over the current share price of nearly $350 (at the time of the announcement). Later in an internal email, he stated that his proposal was based on the structure where any existing shareholder who chose to remain as a shareholder in a private Tesla could do so. 

READ | Unfixed German Volkswagen Cars Affected With Cheat Diesel Engines To Face De-registration

Explaining his real intent behind the move, Musk explained that about two years ago he was approached multiple times by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund to take Tesla private. In his statement, he stated that they had approached him as they felt it was 'important to diversify away from oil'. In the years after that, Musk states that they held several meetings in order to proceed with the transition. " Obviously, the Saudi sovereign fund has more than enough capital needed to execute on such a transaction." Musk said in his statement.