Tesla's profits plummet to five-year low as Musk pays the price of Trump
The electric car company's net income slumped by 71per cent to $US409 million ($261 million) in the three months to the end of March, marking its least profitable quarter since 2020. Sales came in at $US19.3 billion, down 9 per cent and well below market estimates.
The figures lay bare the financial impact of Tesla chief Elon Musk's enthusiastic support for Donald Trump. Left-wing drivers have mounted a boycott of the company's cars in response to Musk's decision to take a position in the Trump White House and the president's tariffs are also impacting the business.
'Uncertainty in the automotive and energy markets continues to increase as rapidly evolving trade policy adversely impacts the global supply chain and cost structure of Tesla and our peers,' the electric carmaker warned.
Tesla also admitted that 'changing political sentiment' was damaging sales. Deliveries of its vehicles fell 13 per cent in the first three months of the year, Tesla reported earlier in April.
The company warned that the twin impact of tariffs and boycotts 'could have a meaningful impact on demand for our products in the near term.'
The slump has prompted questions over whether the billionaire's association with Mr Trump's MAGA movement has done permanent damage to the company.
The results came hours after Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, said that America's trade war with China was not sustainable, telling a JPMorgan investor summit there was 'a big deal to be done.'
The admission is a sign that officials are growing wary of the economic cost of Trump's aggressive trade war, which has prompted a sell-off of US stocks, debt and the US dollar.
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