By The Epoch Times | Created at 2025-03-27 00:20:16 | Updated at 2025-03-30 06:50:40
3 days ago
‘He’s never asked me for anything,’ Trump said.
President Donald Trump said on March 26 that Elon Musk, whom he tapped to lead government cost-cutting efforts, has never asked him for help with his businesses since the tech CEO began advising him last year.
While signing executive orders in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump told reporters that he does not discuss auto tariffs with Musk “because he may have a conflict” of interest. The White House adviser at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is the CEO of Tesla, a major American electric automobile manufacturer.
“So we don’t talk [about tariffs]. I’ve never talked to him,” Trump said. “He’s never asked me for a favor in business whatsoever. I’m actually a little surprised by it. I might do it, I might not do it. I do what’s right, and he'd want me to do what’s right.”
Tesla has faced significant hurdles in recent months. Protesters have vandalized vehicles and dealerships and set chargers ablaze, sometimes citing Musk and DOGE’s recommendations to slash government funding and fire tens of thousands of federal workers as the catalyst. The company’s sales and stock value plunged recently amid a purported boycott, dropping 53 percent last week from an all-time high in December 2024.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that “Radical Left Lunatics” are “illegally and collusively boycott[ing]” Tesla.
While the stock value was climbing for the fifth straight day on Wednesday—regaining a quarter of its value lost in the previous three months—Tesla owners are on high alert nationwide as many have reported incidents of their cars being vandalized.
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The negative reaction from a portion of Americans to Musk’s efforts with the Trump administration prompted Trump to recently purchase a red Model S, which he selected from a row of Teslas parked in front of the White House.
“He didn’t ask me for this. I said: ‘You know, Elon, I don’t like what’s happening to you, and Tesla is a great company. I don’t like what’s happening.’ It’s from our standpoint, American cars, American made,” Trump told reporters at the event.
While speaking about Musk in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump noted that he revoked the Biden administration executive order that sought to make new automobile sales electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030, which Trump has long referred to as a “electric vehicle mandate.”
“I’ve never had Elon come and say, ‘Would you do me a favor with the mandate or the electric mandate or anything?’ He’s never asked me for anything,” Trump said.
