Tesla shares drop 15% amid escalating Trump-Musk rift
Tesla shares dropped over 15 percent on Thursday amid escalating tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and CEO Elon Musk over the President's tax bill.
The two billionaires dismantled large parts of the federal government during Mr Trump's first four months in office, but are now sparring over the contents of a Republican-led budget that is being debated by politicians in Congress, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
While he was speaking, Mr Musk sent out a series of posts on his X social-media platform critical of Mr Trump and the bill, called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Mr Musk wrote on X, which he bought in 2022.
Shares in Tesla were down 13.46 per cent during afternoon trading, with the company's market capitalisation falling below $1 trillion to $925.21 billion.
Shares in Trump Media fell 4.07 per cent.
Mr Musk, the world's richest man, spent about $300 million during the 2024 election to support Mr Trump and other Republican candidates.
But Tesla, the electric vehicle maker that Mr Musk runs, is likely to be affected by the budget bill circulating through Congress. The bill would eliminate a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles by the end of this year.
“Elon was 'wearing thin.' I asked him to leave,” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social.
“I took away his EV mandate that forced everyone to buy electric cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do), and he just went crazy.”
Mr Musk responded by posting: “Such an obvious lie. So sad.”
Mr Trump also suggested cutting Mr Musk's government contracts and subsidies.
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