Tesla considered bringing Chinese-made cars to the US

American automaker Tesla is considering exporting its Chinese-made cars to the US. sources told Reuters news agency.

The group’s largest factory is located in Shanghai. Until now, Tesla’s strategy has been to build the cars it sells in North America at factories in Fremont, California and Austin, Texas.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk called the report “false” on Twitter. But according to sources, it has already been examined whether components from Chinese suppliers comply with regulations in the US and Canada. Reasons for the plan to source cars from China include lower Chinese raw material prices, favorable currency effects and higher costs in the US. It’s related to the Model 3 and Model Y, which could be shipped to the U.S. next year.

Tesla would not be the first American automaker to ship Chinese-made vehicles to the US. General Motors has done this before with its Buick Envision SUV. GM unsuccessfully sought a 25 percent exemption from U.S. tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.