Tesla, Ford, and Mercedes-Benz are suing the Trump administration over tariffs on Chinese car parts

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FILE PHOTO: Tesla China-made Model 3 vehicles are seen during a delivery event at its factory in Shanghai Reuters

• Tesla is suing the Trump administration over tariffs the government has imposed on Chinese vehicle parts.
• The electric car manufacturer described the tariffs as “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion” in a filing on Wednesday. It is asking for a refund of the money it has paid, plus interest.
• Numerous other carmakers, including Mercedes-Benz, Ford, and Volvo, have filed lawsuits against the US government in recent days over the tariffs.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Electric-car maker Tesla is suing the Trump administration and Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, over government-imposed tariffs on parts Tesla imports from China.

The auto firm has filed a lawsuit in the Court of International Trade in New York, demanding two lists of tariffs be voided. It wants refunds of the money it has paid, plus interest.

The tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion,” Tesla said in its filing on Wednesday.

It is the latest in a long line of car manufacturers to sue the government over the tariffs: Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo have also filed lawsuits.

Tesla is challenging List 3 tariffs — which place 25% duties on $200 billion worth of imports from China — and List 4 tariffs, which place 7.5% charges on $120 billion worth of Chinese goods.

The lists include hundreds of products, from electric parts to raw materials, but the lawsuit did not specify the goods Tesla had paid tariffs on, or how much the car company paid.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more: The 3 biggest things Elon Musk announced at Tesla’s ‘Battery Day’

In its filing, Mercedes-Benz accused the Trump administration of “prosecution of an unprecedented, unbounded and unlimited trade war impacting over $500 billion in imports from the People’s Republic of China.”

On September 15, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that US tariffs on $400 billion worth of Chinese exports violated international trade rules, unfairly targeting China and skirting the WTO’s dispute-settlement body, Bloomberg reported. 

Video: Tesla sues U.S. over certain China tariffs (CNBC)

Tesla sues U.S. over certain China tariffs

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