U.S. President Donald Trump held a bill signing ceremony on Thursday, during which he announced that his administration is abolishing both the federal and California’s EV mandate.
The President stated that his Administration has “officially rescued the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating California’s EV mandate once and for all.”
“Now I know why Elon [Musk] doesn’t like me so much,” the President joked, before adding, “which he does, actually. He does. And we never had a problem.”
Commenting further on his relationship with Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and former Special Government Employee, Trump reaffirmed that his plans are “not something new” and that they “have been there from day one.”
“Elon still endorsed me because, honestly, he never ever spoke to me about that. And I used to say, I’m amazed that he’s endorsing me because that can’t be good for him,” the President added.
Trump said he questioned Musk on the topic, to which Tesla‘s executive reportedly responded, “Well, as long as it’s happening to everybody, I’ll be able to compete.”
The President praised Musk’s “honest answer”, saying that one “would have thought he would have been from day one, you gotta make sure you don’t do the EV mandate.” However, the President acknowledged that, after that, Musk “got a little strange.”
Donald Trump admitted that “a lot of people love electric. They love Tesla,” adding that so does he, “in all fairness.”
“I like Tesla, and I like others too, but I also like combustion engines.” Trump concluded.
Elon Musk’s term as an adviser in the Trump Administration ended on May 30, with the Tesla executive exiting his role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
A few days later, Musk publicly criticized Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and is awaiting for the Senate vote.
The bill proposes ending tax breaks for electric vehicles and clean energy, a measure to which Tesla, which manufactures both EVs and energy storage solutions, is opposed.
Last week, Tesla shares dropped sharply from $332 to $284 as Donald Trump and Elon Musk engaged on a public feud, after the U.S. President reacted to the executive’s comments about the bill.
The loss was equivalent to $152.4 billion in market value — the stock’s biggest one-day slide on record.
However, the stock has rebounded over the past five days and is currently trading at $325.54 as of Thursday’s session. Over the past twelve months, the stock rose 78.6%.
As the U.S. President was speaking at the White House, Tesla‘s share value increased 1.9% to a session high of about $330.
