Why Tesla Stock Is Sinking Today

Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are getting hit with another round of big sell-offs in Thursday's trading. The price was down 5.4% as of 2:15 p.m. ET today amid a 4.3% decline for the S&P 500 and a 5.5% drop for the Nasdaq Composite.

The Trump administration announced a series of wide-ranging new tariffs yesterday, and investors are selling out of stocks in response. With today's pullback, Tesla stock is now down roughly 33.5% across this year's trading.

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A sell-off on tariff news

The Trump administration announced yesterday that it will apply a 10% tariff on all foreign-sourced goods on April 5. Then, a series of added individualized tariffs will go into effect on April 9 targeting countries that the U.S. has the biggest trade deficits with.

Tesla manufactures all of its vehicles in the U.S. but could still wind up facing significant challenges due to an escalating trade war. Canada has already said that it will be matching the U.S. tariffs on automobiles, and France is advocating for the European Union to implement retaliatory tariffs in response to the new rounds of import taxes.

What's next for Tesla?

Besides macroeconomic challenges, recent business developments could continue to hurt Tesla stock. In its recent report, the company announced that it had delivered 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter -- down 13% year over year and missing the already cautious consensus estimate by approximately 20,000 deliveries.

Relatively soft business performance has added to the importance of the company's Full Self Driving (FSD) and robotics technology. Investors should get a closer look at these initiatives and the core EV business when the company reports first-quarter earnings results after the market closes on April 22.

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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.