Musk-Trump Feud Subsides on Robotaxi Hopes

Dan Ives, Global Head of Technology Research at Wedbush Securities, breaks down how the feud between President Trump and Elon Musk has affected Tesla stock and hopes for Musk's robotaxi plan.

Elon Musk issued his strongest sign of contrition yet over his handling of the dramatic break with Donald Trump, days after a call with two of the president’s top allies.

Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles called Musk last Friday to urge him to end his conflict with Trump, said people familiar with the conversation. The call was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Musk served as a close adviser and confidant to Trump until a bitter public falling-out last week, which caused a firestorm for the president and the world’s richest person.

“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week,” Musk posted Wednesday on his social-media platform, X. “They went too far.”

The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer called the president before his public expression of regret, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

The dispute — which was triggered by Musk’s opposition to the tax-cut bill Trump is pushing through Congress — posed a threat to Musk’s wealth when the president raised the prospect of retaliating by cutting off his government contracts. That would have battered SpaceX, his rocket company.

“I thought it was very nice that he did that,” Trump said in a brief interview with the New York Post, without elaborating on whether he would fully let go of the feud.

The stock price of Musk’s Tesla Inc. tumbled Thursday after the spat, before recovering most of the loss. On Wednesday in the hours after his post, shares rose less than 1% as of 1:47 p.m. in New York.

Tesla Inc. already had a lot riding on its highly anticipated robotaxi launch long before Elon Musk decided to swing a wrecking ball through his alliance with President Donald Trump — and the company’s share price. Now investors are looking for a win that can help repair the brand damage and shift Tesla back into growth mode.

Musk said Tesla would start the new self-driving car service in Austin as soon as June 22, as part of the EV maker's big bet on artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. While Tesla gave the city an outline of its tentative plans, the company hadn’t disclosed a launch date — either publicly or directly to Austin officials — until late on Tuesday, when Musk warned the service’s debut could shift because it was “super paranoid about safety.”

The proclamation came as part of an all-night series of social media messages by Musk, which included a near-apology that “I regret some of my posts” about the president, which “went too far.” The comments helped push shares up about 3% Wednesday by investors who have been urging Musk to refocus on his business empire.

The billionaire has said the rollout would start slowly, with 10 to 20 vehicles, and a testing area verified by Bloomberg News suggests the initial contours of the debut resemble more of a souped-up demo than a full-fledged launch.

That may not matter to Tesla’s biggest fans, or the stock price. Investors generally have been willing to give Musk the benefit of the doubt in the short term as they believe in his long-term vision.

For the moment, Tesla sales are tumbling around the world, its stock is down around 20% this year and analysts have lowered their expectations for the company’s performance. While Musk tries to undo some of the damage from his meltdown with Trump,  the immediate impact to Tesla's shares and Musk's own wealth shows just how delicate the whole balance is. The government has outsized influence over his businesses, from billion-dollar contracts to the regulatory environment for autonomous vehicles and Tesla’s robotaxi network.

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