A company owned by Elon Musk that is trying to lower the cost of building high-speed transit tunnels has asked US President Donald Trump’s administration to exempt it from tariffs for some Chinese-made tunnel boring machine components, warning that the tariffs could significantly delay a planned tunnel between New York and Washington.
In a July 31 letter posted last week on a government Web site, the Boring Co asked the US Trade Representative’s office to exempt parts such as cutterheads, screw conveyors and related machinery.
Boring seeks “limited parts from China in the near term for use in a small number of tunnel boring machines,” the letter said, adding that those parts are “readily available only from China.”
Privately held Boring added that it is “working to develop and manufacture our own tunnel boring machines” and wants to “restore the now-dormant American tunnel boring machine industry.”
For planned tunnels, including a project between Washington and Baltimore, the company would “use machines that are majority-composed of US content,” it said.
The tariffs could cause “severe economic harm” to the company and US interests, and could result in a delay of one to two years in the construction of a proposed Washington-to-Baltimore tunnel that it plans to eventually extend to New York.
Exempting the parts would not harm US industry, the company said, adding that tunneling is not one of 10 sectors identified in China’s “Made in 2025” plan.
The company’s business model is “predicated upon substantially reducing the cost of tunneling,” it said.
Musk, who is also the chief executive of Tesla Inc, in June proposed building a US$1 billion underground transit system in Chicago. The plan would send people from Chicago’s downtown Loop district to O’Hare International Airport at 241km per hour.
The Boring Co has been promoting its plans for tunnels that would allow high-speed travel between cities.
The company initially plans to ferry passengers between Washington and Baltimore on autonomous electric vehicles carrying eight to 16 passengers at 200 to 241kph, but would not use tracks or railway equipment.
The US Trade Representative’s office and Boring did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Other companies including General Motors Co have sought exemptions from new US tariffs imposed on Chinese imports.
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