Elon Musk is already feeling the brunt of crossing Donald Trump. The shares of Tesla reportedly fell 14% on Thursday as President Donald Trump threatened to pull government contracts for CEO Elon Musk’s companies, escalating a war of words over the spending bill.
“Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, 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!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
READ: DOGE goes after consulting firms under Trump (March 7, 2025)
The move dropped the EV maker $152 billion in value, the biggest hit to its market cap ever, putting it below the $1 trillion benchmark and settling Thursday at $916 billion.
Musk departed the government after vacating his position at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But it looks like his departure may not have been on the best of terms as one of the first things the tech billionaire did after leaving the White House was to get on his social media platform X and criticize Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill.
Trump reportedly spoke from the Oval Office earlier Thursday and said Musk was upset that EV credits were not included in the bill.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday. “I was surprised.”
“Whatever,” Musk fired back as the president spoke.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” he posted on X.
The feud between Musk and Trump signals shifting power dynamics between business and politics. For Musk, it signals a break from political entanglements, sharpening his image as an independent, disruptive visionary. However, the fallout risks eroding his influence in Washington D.C. and shaking investor confidence, especially amid volatile market reactions.
For Trump, it reveals the risks of alienating major allies in tech and industry, potentially weakening his economic narrative. The clash highlights growing tensions between innovation and traditional politics, with each man’s brand taking a hit: Musk as unreliable to politicians, Trump as dismissive of innovators. It raises questions about how much collaboration remains possible going forward.