Tesla shares sink 8% as Musk-Trump spat over budget bill boils over

CNBC

2 days ago

Key Points
Shares of Tesla slid 8% on Thursday as CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump traded barbs over the spending bill.
The drop comes as shares of the EV maker saw a 22% rally in May with Musk wrapping up his time as head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
"Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate," Musk posted on X.
Elon Musk reacts during a press event with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured), at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Shares of Tesla slid 8% on Thursday as CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump traded barbs over the spending bill making its way through Congress.
Trump spoke from the Oval Office Thursday and said Musk was upset that EV credits were not included in the bill.
"Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore," Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday. "I was surprised."
" Whatever," Musk fired back as the president spoke.
"Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate," he posted on X.
Musk, the world's richest man, in recent days has threatened to make lawmakers who vote for the bill face primary elections and called the bill a " disgusting abomination," marking a significant shift in his comments about the administration.
The fall in shares comes after the EV maker saw a 22% rally in May despite weak sales numbers, with Musk wrapping up his time as head of Trump's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Shares are down more than 20% this year and well off the high of $488.54 reached Dec. 18.
Since Musk's special government employee term ended Friday, he's appeared at odds with the Trump administration and gone on a full assault against the president's signature tax-cut bill.
"One of the things about Elon is when he goes all in, he goes all in," Walter Isaacson, author of a Musk biography, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday.
"He is somebody who's not exactly calibrated in these things and he is seriously upset," Isaacson said.
Musk, who also runs SpaceX and xAI, posted a stream of attacks against the Trump bill on X Wednesday.
NBC News reported that Musk had tried to convince Trump and other GOP members of the administration to change aspects of Trump's bill that would curtail EV and residential solar tax credits, which generate profits for Tesla.
The measure would also impose a new annual $250 fee on EV drivers.
Tesla is facing more fundamental problems, with plummeting sales of its electric vehicles in major markets in Europe and a declining brand reputation in the West.
Tesla is also under pressure to launch a long-delayed, driverless ride-hailing service this month in Austin, Texas.
Musk has said that Tesla is testing driverless vehicles in that market, but its primary competitor Waymo is already operating a major commercial robotaxi service there in partnership with Uber.
Isaacson said Thursday that Musk was also annoyed with members of the Trump administration who worked against the nomination of Jared Isaacman as head of space agency NASA.
"That, to Musk, was just infuriating because they were doing, they were going after Jared Isaacman ... to get at Musk," Isaacson said Thursday.
Isaacman's nomination was pulled over the weekend.
Isaacman led two private spaceflights through Musk's SpaceX, in 2021 and 2024, commanding crews on trips around the Earth. His payment tech company Shift4 said in financial filings that as of June 30, 2021, it had invested $27.5 million in SpaceX as well.