- By Ajeet Kumar
- Tue, 08 Apr 2025 03:59 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Amid a bloodbath in the global market, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made direct yet unsuccessful appeals to US President Donald Trump to reverse tariffs over the past weekend, news agency Reuters reported citing Washington Post reported on Monday citing two people familiar with the matter. This exchange marks the highest-profile disagreement between the President and Musk, the report said. It follows Trump's unveiling of a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all imports to the US along with higher duties on dozens of other countries. The White House and Musk did not comment as of writing this article.
Tesla sales down
Musk, a Trump adviser who has been working to eliminate wasteful US public spending, called for zero tariffs between the US and Europe during a virtual interaction at a congress in Florence of Italy's right-wing, co-ruling League Party over the weekend. Tesla has seen its quarterly sales drop sharply amid a backlash against Musk's work with a new "Department of Government Efficiency." The company's shares are trading at $233.29 as of its last close on Monday, down over 42 per cent since the beginning of the year. Musk has previously said that the impact of US President Donald Trump's auto tariffs on Tesla is "significant."
Economists say the tariffs could reignite inflation, raise the risk of a US recession and boost costs for the average US family by thousands of dollars - a potential liability for a president who campaigned on a promise to bring down the cost of living.
Tariffs are good thing: Trump
Earlier on Sunday, When Trump was asked about the setback in the US market, he said foreign governments would have to pay "a lot of money" to lift sweeping tariffs that he characterized as "medicine," as financial markets indicated another week of steep losses could be in store. Trump described tariffs as are "beautiful thing" and added someday people will realise. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump indicated he was not concerned about market losses that have already wiped out nearly $6 trillion in value from US stocks.
"I don't want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," he said. Trump said he had spoken to leaders from Europe and Asia over the weekend, who hope to convince him to lower tariffs as high as 50 per cent due to take effect this week. They are coming to the table. They want to talk but there is no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis," Trump said.