Tesla Stock Sinks as Trump-Musk Relationship Falls Apart in Public Spat

Tesla (TSLA) shares dropped over 14% Thursday, falling for a second straight day, as a public spat between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump escalated.

Thursday’s drop erased more than $150 billion from Tesla’s market capitalization, and removed the company from the small group of public companies worth more than $1 trillion.

Musk left his role in the Trump administration last week. He has since attacked the Trump-backed budget reconciliation bill currently working its way through Congress, calling it a “disgusting abomination,” and urging the Senate to “kill the bill.” Trump at an event with the Chancellor of Germany on Thursday said he is “very disappointed” in Musk’s recent attacks.

Trump said that Musk “knew everything” about the bill, and claimed that the Tesla CEO only turned against the bill because of the cuts it would make to electric vehicle mandates and programs.

“Elon and I had a great relationship,” Trump said. “I don’t know if we will anymore.”

“Whatever,” Musk said in a post responding to a video of Trump’s comments. “Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.”

In a separate post, Musk called Trump’s assertion that he knew details about the bill “false,” and said that members of Congress did not read it before voting on it.

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk posted minutes after.

Trump later called Musk “CRAZY” and threatened to cut federal contracts with Musk’s companies, in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform.

Tesla has also gotten more disappointing sales news in recent days: Auto industry groups in several European countries reported sales data for May showing declines in Tesla sales as overall EV sales rose. Despite the weak sales, some analysts have pointed to the expected launch of fully autonomous Tesla rides in Austin, Texas next week as a coming positive catalyst for the stock.

The stock’s recent declines have rolled back some of Tesla’s gains after Musk in April said he would spend more time at his companies, and left the Trump administration in May. It has lost nearly a third of its value since the start of the year.

This article has been updated since it was first published to include additional information and reflect more recent share price values.