Tesla shares tumbled sharply after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to deport Elon Musk, following the South African-born billionaire’s criticism of Trump’s proposed “big beautiful bill.”
With the bill becoming a talking point, Street remains nervous about its impact. Major indices on Wall Street fell the heat in the early trade with the DOW 30 trading flat at 44,096.40 while the S&P 500 declined by 0.23% at 6,190.59. The Nasdaq Composite suffered the most, falling by 0.43% and trading at 20,281.30 around 9:49 AM ET (7:20 pm India time).
Earlier today, Trump also said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk headed before stepping down late May — may train its sights on the Tesla and SpaceX founder’s government subsidies.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to take a look,” AFP reported, quoting Trump. He was speaking to the press at the White House and said this when asked if he would consider deporting Musk. “We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.”
Trump doubled down on the threat when he said he believed Musk was attacking his so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” because he was annoyed that it had dropped measures to support electric vehicles (EVs).”He’s losing his EV mandate. He’s very upset about things, but you know, he could lose a lot more than that, I can tell you right now. Elon can lose a lot more than that,” the AFP report saidTrump made similar comments on his Truth Social network late Monday, saying that “without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.”
The world’s richest person, with a fortune of $363 billion, was Trump’s biggest donor in the 2024 election and initially maintained a near-constant presence at the newly elected president’s side.
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