Donald Trump and Elon Musk first locked horns over the new budget bill. However, things took a nasty turn after Elon Musk stated that the US President would not have gotten elected without the billionaire’s help.
Trump was quick to reply, implying that Tesla and SpaceX could be in the crosshairs of the government.
“The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Donald Trump “is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk shot back, accusing the sitting US President of being in the sealed evidence that led to the arrest of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2019.
“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the greatest bills ever presented to Congress. It’s a record cut in Expenses, $1.6 trillion dollars, and the biggest tax cut ever given. If this bill doesn’t pass, there will be a 68 per cent tax increase, and things far worse than that. I didn’t create this mess; I’m just here to FIX IT,” Trump doubled down.
Tesla’s stock slump shaved off gains from the past two months of healthy rise after Musk announced that Tesla would test an autonomous, driverless robotaxi service in Texas in June.
The latest friction between Musk and Trump could mean the latter might delay the entry of self-driving taxis, in turn harming Tesla. The electric car maker is also struggling with unsold stock, and the release of the widely polarising Cybertruck did not help matters.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told agencies that a heightened regulatory environment could delay Tesla’s goal of rolling out robotaxis in 20 to 25 cities next year.
Another company that is getting hit by the shrapnel of the Trump-Musk proverbial shootout is SpaceX. Trump’s threat of cutting government contracts seems to target SpaceX more, with the firm receiving billions of dollars to do work for NASA and provide launches to the International Space Station.
Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite communications arm, might also face the brunt of the battle after it recently decided to expand to Saudi Arabia and even India.
However, the major market-based concerns point to the decay of the Tesla stock. During the November presidential election, a whopping $450 billion was added to Tesla in a span of four weeks as investors bet on easing regulatory oversight due to the Trump friendship. This led to the Tesla stock hitting its all-time high a month later on Dec 17.
But Musk’s time as the head of DOGE dented Tesla’s reputation, including product boycotts.
As of Friday, when the US markets closed, Musk’s own holdings of Tesla stock lost $20 billion in value after shares of the electric vehicle maker plunged more than 14 per cent. More and more investors dumped their positions on Tesla as the tussle between the US president and the world’s richest man overflowed into social media.