"Without having to do anything, Beijing already seems to have the upper hand here," said CNN Beijing bureau chief Seven Jiang.

China’s halt this month on exports of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has affected Tesla’s plans to manufacture Optimus robots.

Tesla's revenue is down 9% from a year ago and shares have plummeted as carmaker misses Wall Street expectations

During an April 22 earnings call for Tesla, Elon Musk announced that he would reduce his hours with DOGE, starting next month, to focus on his role as Tesla's CEO. This announcement came a week after the White House press secretary fired back at claims on X, formerly Twitter, that Musk was leaving his position in the coming weeks.

Tesla boss Elon Musk has pledged to "significantly" cut back his role in the US government after the electric car firm reported a huge drop in profit and sales for the start of this year. Musk has led the newly created advisory body - the Department for Government Efficiency (Doge) - since last year,