Tesla Stock Rises Premarket: Lawmakers Urge Trump To Keep Chinese EV Rivals Out Of American Market

• More than 70 House Democrats, led by Debbie Dingell and Ro Khanna, reportedly called for maintaining restrictions on Chinese automakers.
• The push comes ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping and follows similar appeals from senators and major auto-industry groups.
• China suspended new robotaxi license approvals after about 200 Baidu Apollo Go vehicles stopped mid-traffic in Wuhan.

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) rose 0.3% in premarket trading on Wednesday after U.S. lawmakers urged U.S. President Donald Trump to keep Chinese EV rivals out of America, spotlighting intensifying U.S.-China competition in the EV race.

TSLA stock is poised to snap three straight months of losses, rising just over 1% so far in April. 

Senators Join Push To Block Chinese Vehicles

On Tuesday, over 70 Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House called on Trump to maintain restrictions preventing Chinese automakers from entering the American market, citing national security concerns over connected-vehicle data and rising competitive pressure on the domestic auto industry, Reuters reported.

The letter, led by Debbie Dingell and Ro Khanna, comes ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next month and follows similar appeals from senators and major auto-industry groups in recent weeks. 

While U.S. officials said that national-security safeguards remain a priority, China’s embassy urged Washington to avoid “discriminatory” restrictions. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno separately said he plans legislation to permanently block Chinese vehicles from entering the U.S. market.

China Steps Up Scrutiny Of Driverless Fleets

At the same time, regulatory developments in China are adding another layer of uncertainty to the autonomous-driving space, which is key to Tesla’s long-term strategy.

Chinese authorities recently suspended new robotaxi license approvals after 200 driverless vehicles operating under Baidu’s Apollo Go program stopped mid-traffic in Wuhan in a major traffic incident. Four central government agencies subsequently ordered a comprehensive safety self-inspection across major autonomous-driving companies following the outage. Local police said that the disruption was due to a system failure, according to a Nikkei report.

The review could temporarily weigh on expectations for large-scale robotaxi deployment, even as regulators continue supporting autonomous driving over the longer term.

China: Key Battleground For Tesla 

Tesla continues to navigate regulatory and competitive pressures in China, its second-largest market and home to its largest global export hub in Shanghai.

The company has been working with Baidu to improve navigation-map integration for its Full Self-Driving Version (FSD) 13 software as it adapts the system to local road conditions under strict data-localization requirements. Earlier this year, Tesla also launched a local AI training center in China to develop its assisted-driving capabilities tailored to domestic traffic environments.

CEO Elon Musk recently said that the “limiting factor” for Tesla in China remains production output at its Shanghai facility ahead of broader supervised FSD approval in the country.

Tesla’s share of China’s EV market declined last year to 10.4% from 11.7% in 2023 as domestic rivals including Nio, BYD, XPeng and Li Auto expand their advanced driver-assistance capabilities across their lineups, often bundling them at lower price points.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About TSLA?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for Tesla was ‘extremely bullish’ amid ‘extremely high’ message volume.

One user called TSLA a “major EV leader where growth expectations, innovation, and sentiment can move the stock quickly”

Another user weighed in on Tesla’s stock price, saying, “for all the pump it’s just treading water.”

So far this year, TSLA stock has lagged its “Magnificent Seven” peers, making it the group’s worst performer, with a 16% decline. 

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