Tesla stock plummets 11% as Musk and Trump exchange barbs over spending bill
Shares of Tesla dropped on Thursday as Trump responded to Elon Musk's criticism of the budget bill.
The stock fell as much as 11% as the president and the Tesla CEO traded barbs.
Tesla shares are down 24% year-to-date.
Tesla shares plummeted as much as 11% on Thursday amid a spat that has been unfolding between the president and the world's richest person over the budget bill moving through Congress.
Shares of the carmaker are down 19% year-to-date.
Paul Hickey, the co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group, told Business Insider he thinks the Trump-Musk feud over the tax bill was the clear catalyst for Tesla's decline on Thursday.
"It could lead to more bad things, punitive actions," Hickey said of Musk's fraying relationship with Trump. "Musk is already kicking himself out of the good graces of the Left. So, if you fell out of the good graces of the Right, that wouldn't necessarily be good."
Tesla stock began to fall on Tuesday, shortly after Musk called the GOP tax and spending bill a " disgusting abomination." On Wednesday, he also called on his followers on X to "kill the bill."
He's criticized the legislation for its potential to add to the budget deficit and has suggested it would undo the work of the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk stepped back from last month,
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump responded by saying he was "very disappointed" with Musk's reaction to the tax bill, his first direct response to the Tesla CEO's criticism of the sweeping budget bill that's a cornerstone of Trump's agenda.
"Elon knew the inner workings of the bill better than almost anybody sitting here. Better than you people. He had no problem with it. All of sudden he had a problem and he only developed the problem when he found out we're going to have to cut the EV mandate," Trump said.
Musk fired back at the president on X, refuting the claim that he knew the contents of the tax bill.
"False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!" the Tesla CEO wrote.
Tesla and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump warns Musk against supporting Democrats
US President Donald Trump warned tech billionaire Elon Musk of "very serious consequences" if he were to support Democrats in the future following their public falling-out. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," Trump told NBC News in a phone interview set to air on Sunday. However Trump declined to share what those consequences might be should Musk support Democratic candidates to harm Republicans who voted for the president's tax and budget bill. The budget bill this week triggered the public dispute between Musk, the world's richest man, and Trump, the world's most powerful one. Musk is demanding far greater spending cuts and called the bill "a disgusting abomination." Trump refers to it as the "big beautiful bill." Since Thursday, Musk and Trump have been engaged in an open mudslinging match after months of unusually close cooperation. Trump does not want to reconcile with Musk In the NBC interview, Trump was asked whether he believed his relationship with Musk, who owns the social media platform X, the electric car company Tesla and the space voyage firm SpaceX, was over. "I would assume so, yeah," Trump said. He also reiterated that he was not interested in reconciling with Musk, saying he was too busy with other matters. "I have no intention of speaking to him." On Thursday, the brewing feud between the two powerful men exploded with Trump calling Musk "crazy" and Musk claiming that if it weren't for him, Trump would have lost the presidential election last year.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump says his relationship with Musk is over, slamming the door on the once-staunch ally who tried to de-escalate their feud
The feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk appears to have caused irreparable damage as the president told NBC News that he has no desire to repair their relationship and assumes it is over. The comments came after Musk appeared to make attempts at de-escalating a feud that exploded in public on Thursday over Trump's budget bill. President Donald Trump is seemingly done with Tesla CEO Elon Musk after they engaged in a feud on Thursday that unfolded publicly and escalated stunningly. In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump was asked if he has any desire to mend his relationship with Musk, and the president replied 'no.' And when asked if he thinks his relationship with Musk is over, Trump said, 'I would assume so, yeah.' He added that he has 'no intention of speaking' to Musk anytime soon, saying 'I'm too busy doing other things' and accusing Musk of disrespecting the presidency. 'I think it's a very bad thing, because he's very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the President,' Trump said. The comments came after Musk, who once embraced the moniker 'first buddy' to Trump, appeared to make attempts at de-escalating their feud. On Saturday, he deleted his X posts about Trump's association with the infamous Jeffrey Epstein. On Thursday night, Musk replied to a post from Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman calling for peace between the tech billionaire and Trump, saying 'You're not wrong.' Also on Thursday, Musk backtracked on a threat to decommission SpaceX Dragon vehicles, which have become workhorse capsules that the Pentagon and NASA rely on to access Earth orbit. But the damage was already done. Musk had suggested Trump should be impeached, took credit for Trump's election victory, and said his tariffs would cause a recession later this year. That's after trashing Trump's tax and spending bill in the days leading up to their meltdown. Trump's signal that Musk is now persona non grata dashes hopes from top Republicans like Vice President JD Vance and House Speakers Mike Johnson who said they hoped the two men would reconcile. Meanwhile, Trump also warned Musk—who was the top GOP donor last year with nearly $300 million in campaign contributions—against backing Democrats. 'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that,' Trump told NBC News, without elaborating. 'He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that.' For his part, Musk asked X users on Thursday if it's time to form a new political party 'that actually represents the 80% in the middle,' drawing support from 80% of respondents. Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China to fast-track applications for rare-earth minerals to US, EU
June 7 (UPI) -- China has agreed to fast-track approvals for the shipment of rare earth minerals to the United States and some European Union nations. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke Thursday about easing trade tensions. On Saturday, China's Minister Seceary Wang Wentao said his nation is "willing to establish a green channel for qualified applications to speed up approval." Details weren't given, including the speed of the process and which EU nations are included. China controls 90% of the global processing of rare earth minerals. Major deposits also are found in the United States, Australia and Russia. Smaller amounts are in Canada, India, South Africa and Southeast Asia. Rare earth minerals are in the Earth's crust, making them difficult to extract. They include lanthanide, scandium and yttrium, all on the Periodic Table of Elements. Some major minerals that contain rare earth elements are bastnasite, monazite, loparite and laterite clays. The first rare-earth mineral was discovered in 1787 -- gadolinite, a black mineral composed of cerium, yttrium, iron, silicon and other elements. U.S. needs rare earth minerals The minerals are critical to American industries and defense, including use in cars and fighter jets. Batteries contain the minerals Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday "there should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of rare Earth products." On April 29, the United States and Ukraine created a Reconstruction Investment Fund that includes rare earth mineral rights in the European nation. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were originally set to sign the minerals deal on Feb. 28, but the plan was scrapped after a tense exchange between them in the Oval Office in which Trump accused him of "gambling with World War III." The United States wants access to more than 20 raw materials in Ukraine, including some non-minerals, such as oil and natural gas, as well as titanium, lithium, graphite and manganese. The Chinese commerce ministry confirmed some applications have been approved without specifying industries covered. Some Chinese suppliers have recently received six-month export licenses, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said Friday, but it noted that there is a backlog of license applications. In a survey of member companies conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China late week, 75% say their stock would run out within three months, CNN reported. Jens Eskelund, the chamber president, said member companies were "still struggling" with the situation. "I hadn't realized just how important this rare earth card was before. Now the U.S. side is clearly anxious and eager to resolve this issue," he said a video on Thursday. "But of course, we'll link this issue to others -- the U.S. is restricting China on chips and jet engines, then China certainly has every reason to make use of this card. "As for whether China will change its rare earth export control policy, that probably still needs to be negotiated in more detail," Jin added. Trump said Xi and himself "straightened out" some points related to rare earth magnets, calling it "very complex stuff." The U.S. federal government said China had reneged on its promise made in Geneva on May 12. Delegations from Beijing and Washington plan to meet in Great Britain on Monday for trade negotiations. At the height of tariff war, China had imposed export restrictions on some minerals on April 4. Trump two days planned a 120% "reciprocal" tax on top of 25% levy on Chinese goods. But one week later it paused the bigger tariffs, including on other countries for 90 days. European nations' needs China's commerce ministry pledged to address the EU's concerns and establish a "green channel" for eligible applications to expedite approvals. He went to Brussels, Belgium, earlier this week and met with European Union's trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic. It's a problem for China and the EU. Sefcovic said the pause was slowing deliveries for manufacturers of a wide range of items from cars to washing machines. Wang urged the EU to "take effective measures to facilitate, safeguard and promote compliant trade of high-tech products to China." On Friday, the European Chamber, a Beijing lobby group, warned progress had "not been sufficient" to prevent severe supply chain disruptions for many companies.
