Tesla shares started dropping Thursday as Trump launched into his criticism of his former adviser.
WASHINGTON — Shares of Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker Tesla fell more than 16% at one point Thursday, as the relationship between President Donald Trump and the world’s richest man appears to be unraveling.
The shares started dropping as Trump launched into his criticism of his former adviser.
Tesla shares doubled in the weeks after Trump was elected, hitting an all-time high Dec. 17. They gave back those gains and more during Musk’s time at DOGE.
In April, Musk vowed to focus much more on Tesla and its upcoming launch of driverless taxis in Texas. That pleased investors and the stock rallied until late last week when Musk left the White House and ramped up his criticism of Trump’s tax bill.
On Thursday, the Trump-Musk public feud hit another level.
Trump had largely remained silent as Musk stewed over the last few days on his social media platform X, condemning the president’s signature tax cuts and spending bill. But Trump clapped back Thursday in the Oval Office, lamented their frayed relationship and said he was “very disappointed in Musk.”
Musk responded on social media in real time. Trump ratcheted up the stakes when he turned to his own social media network, Truth Social, and threatened to use the U.S. government to hurt Musk’s bottom line with his internet company Starlink and rocket company SpaceX.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote on his social media network. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
“This just gets better and better,” Musk quickly replied on X. “Go ahead, make my day.”
Musk later offered up an especially stinging insult to a president sensitive about his standing among voters: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk retorted. “Such ingratitude,” Musk said in a follow-up post.
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