Tesla’s Musk Meets Chinese Officials, Promoting Ground Digging

(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk visited China’s top market watchdog during a trip to the country on Friday and promoted his ground-digging business, according to an official.

Musk met Xiao Yaqing, head of China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, said Liu Weijun, a department head of the agency, speaking at an auto forum in Tianjin in northern China. Musk shared with Chinese officials his vision of managing traffic by moving things underground, according to Liu, who also attended the meeting.

Tesla Inc. won exemption from a 10% purchase tax on the vehicles it sells in China, scoring a significant break despite trade tensions between the country and the U.S. The exemption, which typically is reserved for domestic makers of electric vehicles, affects all Tesla models sold in China, the nation’s industry ministry said Friday on its website.

Musk’s trip to China this week included a visit to a new Tesla site, and he also made an appearance at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Thursday.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Tian Ying in Beijing at ytian@bloomberg.net;Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Ken McCallum, Adam Haigh

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With assistance from Bloomberg