Elon Musk spent the weekend pleading with Donald Trump to cancel his disastrous worldwide tariffs, just days before fragile Tesla stocks started sliding once more, it has been claimed.
The centibillionaire reportedly launched a desperate bid to halt the US Commander-in-Chief in his tracks just a few days after his “Liberation Day” move strapped tariff increases up to 50 percent on 60 countries. The aggressive plan has had worldwide implications, sending stocks into freefall and wiping trillions from US, European and Asian markets in a near-instant. The world’s richest man and “First Buddy” is said to have made personal appeals to the President days before his own companies took a public hit.
The Washington Post cited two sources “familiar with the matter” claiming Musk had spent the weekend trying to convince his boss to wind back the plan. But in a sign of a potential developing schism between two of the most controversial figures in the US, the President did not relent and has since promised to double down tariffs on a country in which Musk has significant business interests.
On Monday, Mr Trump threatened to increase tariffs on China by a further 50 percent after the nation planned retaliatory measures that would tariff US goods at 34 percent in return of Wednesday’s 36 percent hike – on top of an existing 20 percent tariff. China is the second-biggest Tesla buyer in the world only after the US.
Tesla’s stock is the most valuable in the world, but even that took a hit this week as it continues to struggle under the weight of Musk’s collapsing popularity. His involvement with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in slashing tens of thousands of jobs from the federal workforce has made him one of the most unpopular people in the world.
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When trading open in the US on Monday, shares of the automaker of which Musk is CEO fell by more than 10 percent. While they bounced back, overall losses for the day remained around four to five percent. Stocks have fallen under a $233.29 (£174.90) low US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said Tesla would “never” fall to again last week.
Musk has seemed openly critical of the tariffs in recent days, also choosing to publicly split from his boss during a conversation with far-right Italian politician and his League Party over the weekend. Appearing via video link at a conference, the billionaire said he hoped for a “very close relationship” between the US and Europe.
He even went as far as to advocate for a “zero tariff situation”, saying there should be a “free trade zone” between the two continents. He said: “I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move, ideally in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and the United States.”
But Mr Trump has struck a different tone, outright rejecting the European Union’s offer of a zero-for-zero tariff agreement on cars and industrial goods following negotiations on Monday.He told reporters during an Oval Office meeting address with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the proposition was nt good enough.
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