Musk could lose billions of dollars depending on how spat with Trump unfolds

(RNS, 07-06-25) The world's richest man could lose billions in his fight with world's most powerful politician.

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The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump could mean Tesla's plans for self-driving cars hit a roadblock, SpaceX flies fewer missions for NASA, Starlink gets fewer overseas satellite contracts and the social media platform X loses advertisers. Maybe, that is. It all depends on Trump's appetite for revenge and how the dispute unfolds. Joked Telemetry Insight auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid, “Since Trump has no history of retaliating against perceived adversaries, he'll probably just let this pass.” Turning serious, he sees trouble ahead for Musk. “For someone that rants so much about government pork, all of Elon's businesses are extremely dependent on government largesse, which makes him vulnerable.”

Trump and the federal government also stand to lose from a long-running dispute, but not as much as Musk. Tesla robotaxis: The dispute comes just a week before a planned test of Tesla's driverless taxis in Austin, Texas, a major event for the company because sales of its EVs are lagging in many markets, and Musk needs a win. Trump can mess things up for Tesla by encouraging federal safety regulators to step in at any sign of trouble for the robotaxis. Even before the war of words broke out on Thursday, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration requested data on how Musk's driverless, autonomous taxis will perform in low-visibility conditions. That request follows an probe last year into 2.4 million Teslas equipped with full self-driving software after several accidents, including one that killed a pedestrian.