Former President Donald Trump would likely take his trade war and economic decoupling policies to new levels if he were elected to a second term in the White House, experts told CNBC…While Joe Biden also placed strategic competition with China at the forefront of his economic policy, economists and trade experts largely expect Trump would further cut and destabilize trade relations between the world’s two largest economies…“Trump relied on tariffs to keep out imports from China. Biden — while keeping those tariffs in place and even increasing tariffs on certain imports — has focused more on restricting China’s access to technology transfers and computer chips,” he said…While the Biden-Harris administration’s “more measured and cautious” approach to China trade and diplomacy has done more to stabilize the relationship, Marro said he doubts Beijing is excited about either candidate…“There’s this feeling that, regardless of which party sits in the White House, US-China relations will remain on a crash-course throughout the remainder of this decade.”

Chinese self-driving start-ups are rushing to float shares in Hong Kong and other markets, seeking capital to fund development and giving backers an exit path, as the technology appears to be closer to the holy grail of commercial deployment…In major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Wuhan, driverless cars are already on public roads, as city regulators push for wider roll-out and commercialisation of autonomous driving technology in spite of regulatory, security, and social concerns…Domestic electric carmakers - including Xpeng, Nio, Li Auto, and Huawei Technologies-powered Aito - are touting intelligent driving capabilities as key selling points…"A cluster of Chinese autonomous driving start-ups were founded around 2016 and were once the darlings of capital markets. Their investors are now expecting returns." Liu said…Since last year, Beijing's green light for Chinese companies to go public overseas, combined with Hong Kong's supportive Chapter 18C listing regime, have prompted more mainland tech companies to choose Hong Kong for their IPO…Xu, who founded Nullmax in Silicon Valley in 2016 after stints at Qualcomm and Tesla, claimed that the company's latest innovation - Nullmax Intelligence - can navigate vehicles without relying on maps or lidar, similar to Tesla's Full-Self-Driving system, but at a lower cost…According to Xu, this technology requires less customisation. Nullmax has formed partnerships with global original equipment manufacturers and leading suppliers, including SAIC Motor, Chery Automobile, Texas Instruments, and Renesas Electronics. 

To be fair to Musk, he has some company in seeming to have evolved on how long fossil fuels will stick around. The trail Tesla blazed for electric vehicles is littered with automakers that built more EV production capacity than the market was ready to bear. As the quarterly earnings season gets underway for the car industry, the one through line already emerging is a further resetting of once-lofty expectations for EVs…Take General Motors, which just walked back a goal to be capable of making 1 million EVs annually by the end of next year. CEO Mary Barra is no longer inclined to lay down these sorts of mile markers, saying customer demand will dictate how quickly the company scales up..“The transition to electric vehicles will take longer than we assumed five years ago,” Porsche said on Monday, tempering its longer-term expectations. While EVs could account for more than 80% of sales in 2030, the company said this is no longer its concrete goal…It’s now Musk’s turn to share earnings results, and he’s got some explaining to do. His post on X speaking up for the oil and gas industry was part of an exchange with Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla, who had taken to Musk’s social media network to weigh in on President Joe Biden exiting the race for the White House…A week after Musk had endorsed former President Donald Trump, the Tesla CEO encouraged Khosla to back the Republican nominee. The venture capitalist responded with a question: Did Musk really want a president who would set back efforts to combat climate change?...“Sustainable energy production and consumption is growing very rapidly and is tracking to exceed use of hydrocarbon fuels,” Musk replied. “That will happen no matter what Trump does.”

Tesla shares headed for their steepest slump since January after the electric vehicle maker reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings and another drop in automotive revenue…Tesla on Tuesday said auto revenue declined 7% from a year earlier to $19.9 billion while margins also fell. Total revenue increased 2% to $25.5 billion…The company has been forced to slash prices globally and offer discounts and incentives as it faces slowing sales and rising competition, especially in China…Tesla remains the top seller of electric vehicles in the U.S. by far, but is losing market share to a growing number of rivals due in part to its aging lineup of sedans and SUVs and the impact of Musk’s incendiary and political commentary…Robotaxis were a big topic on the earnings call. Musk envisions a world in which owners can authorize their Tesla vehicle to be used as part of an Uber-style ride-hailing service, with the cars driving autonomously.

General Motors Co. will again push back the planned opening of an electric pickup truck plant in suburban Detroit and has delayed a Buick plug-in amid uncertain growth in battery-powered car sales…Mary Barra, the company’s chief executive officer, told analysts Tuesday on an earnings conference call the automaker is postponing until mid-2026 the opening of its Orion Assembly factory, which will make the Chevrolet Silverado EV. This is the second delay for the plant, which was originally slated to start production in late 2024…The delay is a main reason why GM won’t be able to meet its previous goal of having production in place to make 1 million EVs by the end of next year. The company said they will add production as buyers show more interest in electric vehicles.