Has somebody been humbled? The stock market chaos induced by Donald Trump and his sweeping tariffs has left business owners across the world in a state of panic – and it seems even Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet, also has a sweat-on.
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Is Elon Musk diverging from Trump on tariffs?
The tech billionaire has, largely through his own actions, witnessed the share price in his electric vehicle company drop through the floor. It suffered a 10% fall in just one day earlier this week, setting alarm bells off at Tesla HQ.
Elon Musk has been front and centre of the Trump Administration from day one, performing a questionable salute on Inauguration Day which rattled investor confidence in several of his business ventures. However, Tesla has taken the biggest hit.
Since the start of 2025, stock in the company has been falling. Former Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz even joked on-stage that he now looks at the Tesla share price each day, whenever he ‘needs a laugh’. The shift in public perception has been awful for Tesla.
Tesla share price drop forces Elon Musk into diplomatic u-turn
Musk also used his brief role in Trump’s team to slash hundreds of thousands of jobs and gut entire government departments. This created an enormous public backlash, resulting in mass protests at several Tesla dealerships, and widespread vandalism.
Whether he is capable of reticence or not remains to be seen. But this weekend, Elon is certainly striking a different tone. With his time in the White House set to end soon, it looks like the Pretoria-born ‘efficiency tsar’ has remembered his actual job.
Who saw this coming?
Mr. Musk, speaking via a video conference yesterday, has shifted away from Trump’s love of tariffs. He declared that he would like to see ZERO tariffs imposed between the US and EU, and even called for greater ‘freedom of movement’ between the two blocs.
Elon, you might be in the #FBPE movement now…