Elon Musk on Thursday again seemed to ignite his feud with US President Donald Trump, insisting that his companies do not get any ‘subsidies’ from the government as they ‘do not exist’.
Trump apparent peace offering from Donald Trump, the Tesla CEO criticised the US President’s move to remove subsidies on sustainable energy.
Understanding Trump Apparent Peace Offering
“The “subsidies” he’s talking about simply do not exist,” Musk claimed.
He was referring to an earlier post of Trump on Truth Social, which claimed that he wanted Elon Musk to “THRIVE”.
“Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!” Trump said in a post earlier on Thursday.
“I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before! The better they do, the better the USA does, and that’s good for all of us. We are setting records every day, and I want to keep it that way,” he said, in an apparent attempt to douse some of the fire that has erupted between him and Musk.
But the Tesla CEO seemed to be in no mood of a possible reconciliation as he doubled down on his former ally over sustainable energy subsidy cuts.
Referring to Trump as ‘DJT’, the Tesla boss claimed that the President had “already removed or put an expiry date on all sustainable energy support while leaving massive oil and gas subsidies untouched.”
Musk also rejected suggestions that SpaceX is receiving favourable treatments from the Trump administration, saying, “SpaceX won the NASA contracts by doing a better job for less money.”
“Moving those contracts to other aerospace companies would leave astronauts stranded and taxpayers on the hook for twice as much,” he claimed.
Elon Musk warns of ‘few rough quarters’ at Tesla
Donald Trump’s social media post came on the heels of Elon Musk’s warning to Tesla investors on Wednesday that US government cuts in support for electric vehicle makers could lead to a “few rough quarters” for the company.
Though Musk has often said government subsidies should be eliminated, Tesla has historically benefited from billions of dollars in tax credits and other policy benefits because of its business in clean transportation and renewable energy.
Sweeping tax and budget legislation approved by Congress, and signed by Trump, will halt $7,500 tax credits for buying or leasing new electric vehicles on September 30, as well as a $4,000 used EV credit, that have helped spur their sales in recent years.