Tesla shares plunged 9% to $301.50 minutes after Donald Trump said he was “very disappointed” with Elon Musk after the former adviser criticised the “big, beautiful bill.”
Musk left his role as Special Government Employee on May 30 after the scheduled 130-day period, during which he led the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE.
In an interview with CBS News, Musk said he was “disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”
Speaking with the press, President Donald Trump responded on Thursday to Elon Musk’s criticism.
When asked about the former DOGE head, the President said Musk is “upset” because his Administration “took the EV mandate.”
Tesla’s decline has wiped out nearly $100 billion in market value as of Thursday.
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” in which he plans to cut on tax credits for clean energy, was approved on the U.S. House of Representatives last week and will now be voted by the Senate.
If approved by Congress, the bill would end the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit after December 31.
The tax breaks were introduced in 2022 as part of the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
They were intended to address climate change by lowering greenhouse gas emissions as consumers switched from petrol vehicles to electric models.
“You know, Elon’s upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles,” the President said, adding that the EV sector is “having a hard time” and they “want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy.” [Video below]
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” the U.S. President stated. “Remember, he was here for a long time. You saw a man who was very happy when he stood behind the Oval Desk, and even with a black eye.”
Trump was “surprised” after the Tesla executive “had a wonderful sendoff” from the White House, adding that Musk “wore the hat ‘Trump was right about everything,’ and I am right about the big beautiful bill.”
“I’d rather have him criticize me than the bill, because the bill is incredible.” According to the President, the bill’s “been there” and “Elon knew this from the beginning.”
Elon Musk reacted to the statement on X minutes later, saying that he did not know about the 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,” Musk wrote.
Tesla‘s CEO later posted that the bill was “very unfair” as it kept oil and gas subsidies but cut EV and solar incentives, something he had already stated a week ago.
“In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that both big and beautiful. Everyone knows this! Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way,” he said.
In a separate post, Tesla’s chief executive said Donald Trump wouldn’t have won the Presidential election without him calling him ungrateful.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk wrote before adding, “Such ingratitude.”
Last week, Tesla urged the Senate, which will now vote on the bill, to commit to a “sensible wind down” on these cuts, as they could “threaten America’s energy independence.”
According to U.S. media outlet Newsweek, filings with the House of Representatives’ clerk showed that Tesla spent $240,000 on lobbying expenses this year for the energy tax breaks.
