Tesla is cautiously navigating an entry into India, CFO Vaibhav Taneja said on Tuesday in the U.S., as the electric vehicle maker faces falling sales and tariff threats. 

Speaking on an earnings call, Taneja confirmed reports that the company is working on an expansion into India, adding that it would be a great market to enter, thanks to its “big middle class.” 

Nevertheless, India is also “a very hard market,” with EV imports into the country subject to a 70% tariff and about 30% luxury tax, he said, noting that this could make India-sold Tesla’s twice as expensive, he said. 

“That’s why we’ve been very careful trying to figure out when is the right time… these kinds of things create a little bit of tension, which we are trying to work out,” he added. 

India has signaled interest in Tesla setting up a base in the country, though the country’s protectionist policies present some obstacles for the EV maker. 

Taneja’s statements come just days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk spoke with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on topics including collaboration on technology and innovation.

Modi also met with Musk during his visit to Washington, D.C., in February, fueling speculation about Tesla’s plans for India. That same month, sources told CNBC-TV18 that the company was considering importing EVs from its Berlin plant into the country as early as April.

On India’s part, the government has proposed a new policy that could see EV tariffs fall from about 70% to 15% for firms that plan to localize some manufacturing in the country.  

Still, experts have told CNBC that Tesla would face price pressures under the scheme, with the company likely to push for further policy reforms.

However, American President Donald Trump’s new tariffs placed on U.S. trading partners, including India, could cast a cloud over potential negotiations between Tesla and New Delhi. 

Washington has imposed additional tariffs of 10% on India, but these could rise by 26% if a 90-day pause on Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” ends without a U.S.-India trade deal. 

Vice President JD Vance met with Modi in India on Monday, hailing “significant” progress made in trade talks between the two countries. 

Tesla reported disappointing first-quarter results Tuesday, including a 20% year-over-year drop in automotive revenue and a 71% slump in net income.

Elon Musk said on Tuesday that he doesn’t like high or unpredictable tariffs, but any decision on what happens with them “is entirely up to the president of the United States.”

Speaking on his company’s first-quarter earnings call, with tariff-related uncertainty swirling across the economy, Musk said Tesla is in a relatively good position, compared to other U.S. automakers, because it has “localized supply chains” in North America, Europe and China.

Musk said Tesla is the “least-affected car company with respect to tariffs at least in most respects.”

Tesla reported troubling quarterly earnings and sales on Tuesday, including a 20% year-over-year drop in automotive revenue and a 71% plunge in net income. The company also said that it wasn’t providing any guidance for 2025 at least until its second-quarter update.

While Musk is one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers, tariffs are the one issue where he’s partially broken with the administration. He recently called Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade adviser, a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.”

On Tuesday’s call, however, Musk said, “If some country is doing something predatory with tariffs,” or “if a government is providing extreme financial support for a particular industry, then you have to do something to counteract that.”

Tesla’s stock price has been hammered since the president floated his plan for widespread tariffs earlier this month, and that was after the shares plunged 36% in the first quarter, their worst performance for any period since 2022.

Because Tesla manufactures cars that it sells in the U.S. domestically, the company isn’t subject to Trump’s 25% tariff on imported cars. But Tesla counts on materials and supplies from China, Mexico, Canada and elsewhere for manufacturing equipment, automotive glass, printed circuit boards, battery cells and other products.

Musk said he offers his advice to the president on tariffs.

“He will listen to my advice. But then it’s up to him, of course, to make his decision,” Musk said. “I’ve been on the record many times saying that I believe lower tariffs are generally a good idea.”

He added that he’s an advocate for “predictable tariff structures,” as well as “free trade and lower tariffs.”

Musk said Tesla’s energy business faces an “outsized” impact from tariffs because it sources lithium iron phosphate battery cells, used in his company’s cars, from China.

“We’re in the process of commissioning equipment for the local manufacturing of LFP battery cells in the U.S.,” he said. But he said the company can “only serve a fraction of our total installed capacity” with its local equipment.

“We’ve also been working on securing additional supply chain from non-china based suppliers, but it will take time,” he said.

Musk called Tesla the most “vertically integrated car company” but said that there are still plenty of parts and materials that come from other countries. Even though it’s built a lithium refinery in Texas, “we’re not growing rubber trees and mining iron yet,” he said.

WATCH: Tariffs on batteries out of China can end up being really costly

Tesla CEO Elon Musk began his company’s earnings call on Tuesday by saying that his time spent running President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency will drop “significantly” starting in May.

Musk, who has watched Tesla’s stock tumble by more than 40% this year, said he’ll continue to support the president with DOGE “to make sure that the waste and fraud that we stop does not come roaring back.”

After spending almost $300 million in the 2024 campaign to help return Trump to the White House, Musk created DOGE and joined the administration with a mission to drastically reduce the size and capability of the federal government.

He said he’ll continue to spend a “day or two per week” on government issues “for as long as the president would like me to do so.”

Musk’s commentary came after his company reported disappointing first-quarter results, including a 20% year-over-year slump in automotive revenue and 71% plunge in net income.

In addition to challenges the company already faced, such as competition out of China and an aging fleet of electric vehicles, Tesla has recently been hit with protests in the U.S. and Europe and brand damage due to Musk’s ties to Trump and his support of Germany’s far-right AfD party.

“The protests that you’ll see out there, they’re very organized,” Musk said on Tuesday’s call. He claimed, without evidence, that some people are likely protesting “because they’re receiving fraudulent money” or are “recipients of wasteful largesse.”

On its website, which was last updated on Sunday, DOGE says its cuts have led to an estimated $160 billion in savings. However, Musk’s estimates of savings have been challenged, and DOGE has deleted some of the largest purported savings.

Over that same stretch, Tesla has lost roughly $600 billion in market cap.

DOGE has also made cuts at agencies charged with oversight of his companies. They include the SEC, Federal Aviation Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The White House said in early February that Musk was serving as a “special government employee,” a designation with fewer requirements when it comes to conflict-of-interest disclosures and ethics policies.

The Department of Justice says the title is for anyone expected to work for the government for 130 days or less in a year. The Trump administration will hit its 130th day at the end of May.

Job cuts from DOGE’s work have come from across the government, at agencies including the Internal Revenue Service, National Park Service, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the departments of Agriculture, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs, according to the Associated Press.

As of February, staffers from DOGE had pushed top-ranking officials at the Department of Education out of their offices, rearranged the furniture and set up white noise machines to muffle their voices, according to employees at the agency. U.S. senators expressed concern that DOGE had possibly gained access to federal student loan data on tens of millions of borrowers.

Also in February, the Trump administration said that USAID would shut down as an independent agency and be moved under the State Department.

WATCH: Musk needs to recommit to Tesla