U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday voiced support for Elon Musk's car company, in a surprising move given their bitter public feud.
"I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
The post wasn't enough to help Tesla's stock, which fell sharply after the company reported another quarter of lackluster financial results and Musk warned of some potentially "rough quarters" into next year. At midday, the stock was down around 9%.
Late Wednesday, Tesla said revenue fell 12% and profit dropped 16% in the April-June quarter. Many prospective buyers have been turned off by Musk's foray into right-wing politics, and the competition has ramped up in key markets such as Europe and China.
Investors have been unnerved by Musk's social media spat with the president because Trump has threatened to retaliate by ending government contracts and breaks for Musk's various businesses, including Tesla.
But Trump struck a starkly different tone Thursday morning.
"Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon's companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!" Trump wrote.
"The better they do, the better the USA does, and that's good for all of us."
After Trump's massive budget bill passed earlier this month, Tesla faces the loss of the $7,500 EV tax credit and stands to make much less money from selling regulatory credits to other automakers.
Trump's tariffs on countries including China and Mexico will also cost Tesla hundreds of millions of dollars, the company said on its earnings call.
Musk has blasted the budget bill on his own social media platform X for adding to U.S. debt at a time when it is already too large. The Tesla CEO has called the budget pushed by the president a "disgusting abomination" and has threatened to form a new political party.
On Wednesday's call, Musk said the electric vehicle maker will face "a few rough quarters" as it moves into a future focused less on selling cars and more on offering people rides in self-driving cars.
He also talked up the company's business making humanoid robotics. But he acknowledged those businesses are a ways off from contributing to Tesla's bottom line.
Tesla began a rollout in June of its paid robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, and hopes to introduce the driverless cabs in several other cities soon. Musk told analysts that the service will be available to probably "half of the population of the U.S. by the end of the year – that's at least our goal, subject to regulatory approvals."
"We're in this weird transition period where we'll lose a lot of incentives in the U.S.," Musk said, adding that Tesla "probably could have a few rough quarters" ahead.
He added, though, "Once you get to autonomy at scale in the second half of next year, certainly by the end of next year, I would be surprised if Tesla's economics are not very compelling."
