On Tuesday, July 23, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the electric vehicle maker’s earnings call that the company’s plans to build a new Gigafactory in Mexico are on pause until after the U.S. presidential election due to former President Trump’s pledge to slap tariffs on cars made in Mexico.
After his opening remarks, Musk was asked for an update on the status of Tesla’s plan to build its Gigafactory Mexico plant near Monterrey, which was announced in February of 2023.
“We’re currently on pause on Giga Mexico,” Musk replied. “I think we need to see just where things stand after the election.”
“Trump has said that he will put heavy tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico, so it doesn’t make sense to invest a lot in Mexico if that is going to be the case. So we will kind of need to see how things play out politically,” Musk explained.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s planned Gigafactory Mexico is on pause until after the U.S. presidential election because of former President Trump’s tariff pledge. (Richard Bord/WireImage / Getty Images)
Tesla hasn’t announced which vehicles or products it plans to produce at the Mexico factory, but Musk noted that the company is accounting for the pause by increasing production capacity at existing factories — including for the forthcoming Robotaxi and its Optimus robots.
“However, we are increasing capacity at our existing factories quite significantly, and I should say that the Robotaxi will be produced here at our headquarters at Giga Texas, as will Optimus towards the end of next year for Optimus production version two — the high-volume version of Optimus will also be produced here in Texas,” he added.
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