American electric vehicle carmaker Tesla Inc (TSLA: NASDAQ) has suspended plans to buy land to expand its Shanghai plant as US-China tensions weigh.

In March, some news reported that a plot of land near Tesla's Shanghai factory was transferred. Many have speculated that the land, covering 461,142.40 square meters, with a permitted industry type of new energy vehicle manufacturing, is likely to be used for the expansion of the Tesla factory.

However, Tesla has halted plans to buy land for expansion of Shanghai factory and make it become a global export hub, due to uncertainty caused by US-China tensions, people familiar with the matter said.

It was revealed in March that Tesla did not participate in the bidding for the land because the company no longer intends to significantly increase its production capacity in China.

For the above rumors, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded at a regular press conference on May 11, that she was not aware of the matter. The Shanghai government had no response.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/exclusive-tesla-puts-brake-shanghai-land-buy-us-china-tensions-weigh-sources-2021-05-11/