Trump and Musk hosted a Tesla ad at the White House

U.S. president Donald Trump has hosted a Tesla advertisement on the White House lawn alongside CEO Elon Musk. He also erroneously called the boycott against the electric vehicle company “illegal.”

On Monday night, Trump announced that he would buy a new Tesla the next day “as a show of confidence” in his close ally Musk, responding to the company’s cratering stock prices. On Tuesday morning, Tesla parked five of its vehicles in front of White House to create a personal showroom for the president. 

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Accompanied by Musk and his son X, Trump promoted Tesla’s cars while continuing to praise its billionaire CEO. The president also revealed that he’d previously purchased a Tesla Cybertruck for his teenage granddaughter Kai. 

“I have a lot of information [about Tesla’s cars], including the price,” said Trump, wielding a few pages of notes he said were given to him about Tesla’s offerings. “I want to make a good deal here.”

Despite this, Trump stated he would be paying full price for his new car. He ultimately selected a red Tesla Model S Plaid which retails for approximately $90,000 after Musk said that it was the model he himself drove.

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Trump further addressed recent protests which have taken place outside Tesla showrooms across the U.S., some of which have resulted in vandalism and property damage, saying that he will label violence against the dealerships as “domestic terrorism.”

“They’re harming a great American company,” said Trump, calling such protesters “garbage.” “Those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them… You do it to Tesla and you do it to any company, we’re going to catch you and you’re going to go through hell.”

There’s a Tesla showroom at the White House

In addition to promoting Tesla, Trump also lavished praise onto Musk himself, calling him an “incredible patriot” and celebrating his work at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“In the time I’ve known him, he has never asked me for a favour,” Trump claimed.

This is a stark contrast to Trump’s previous statements about Musk in 2022, when he called the billionaire a “bullshit artist” and alleged that he asked for help “on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere.”

“I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it,” Trump posted to Truth Social at the time, stating that Musk would be “worthless” without government subsidies.

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There appears to be much less animosity between Musk and Trump now, despite the latter’s history as a vocal detractor of electric vehicles. Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his incorrect claim that he “ended the electric [vehicle] mandate,” and praised Musk for not calling him to complain about it.

The U.S. has never had any law mandating that drivers switch to electric cars. However, it did have incentives to encourage adoption, which is what Trump eliminated. Trump also paused $3 billion in funding for a U.S. electrical vehicle charging network early last month.

Keeping Trump’s new Tesla charged up won’t be his problem, though. Trump won’t actually be driving the car himself, as U.S. presidents aren’t permitted to drive on public roads for security reasons. Instead, the president stated that he would be leaving the Tesla at the White House for his staff to use.

Tesla stock has been falling since Trump’s inauguration

Credit: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

Tesla had its worst day of trading since September 2020 on Monday, its stock falling by over 15 percent to close at $222.15. In response, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social that night to declare his support for Musk, as well as his intention to buy a Tesla.

“[T]he Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,” Trump claimed on Truth Social.

It is not illegal in the U.S. for consumers to boycott companies. While boycotts can be illegal if a group of competitors collectively agrees not to do business with a company, such restrictions do not apply to individuals. Under U.S. law, people are allowed to choose whether or not to patronise a business, and can decide against doing so as an act of protest. This is protected by the First Amendment right to free speech.

Tuesday saw Tesla’s stock regain almost four percent after Monday’s drop, however the overall trend of the company’s share price continues to spiral down. Though Tesla enjoyed a surge following Trump’s election win, its shares have continued to fall since the inauguration and wiped out all those gains.

Tesla’s profits dropped by 70 percent in Q4 2024 and its sales have slumped across the globe. Even the price of used Teslas are falling as drivers reportedly reject the cars due to their association with Musk. Even so, Musk stated on Tuesday that Tesla intends to double its U.S. production within the next two years.