What Trump-Musk’s rupture can mean for SpaceX and Tesla: NPR

“If I cared about subsidies,” Elon Musk said In 2015, “I would have entered the petroleum and gas industry”.

However, the story of the Musk’s commercial empire tells another story.

Musk companies have long been fueled by taxpayers’ money, whether in the form of massive government contracts, low interest loans, tax alternatives and other supports that have helped make Musk one of the richest people in the world.

Over the past two decades, companies led by Musk have received tens of billions of dollars in federal support.

A scoringby The Washington Postnoted that at least $ 38 billion in government support were sent to Musk companies, an estimate which probably underestimates the extent of support, because certain defense and intelligence contracts are not accessible to the public.

In turn, the American government has become dependent on musk, space trips, national security in the future of green transport.

So when President Trump Thursday threatened Subsidies and contracts of the Musc government in a spiral quarrel between The former political alliesIt was greeted by a certain skepticism.

Musk has deep links with the American space program and the intelligence community

Musk companies have become inextricably linked to the federal government, in particular the crucial role of SpaceX in the American space program.

The company’s rockets now provide the only way for American astronauts to go to the international space station and from the international space station.

“Although their political partnership seems to be finished, it is difficult to imagine that the government cancels the SpaceX contracts of any time,” said Dan Grazier, principal member and program director at the Stimson Center, a reflection group focused on national security.

“It will take a while before one of the company’s competitors can take over, it therefore seems that the president and the technology magnate will have to find a way to get along,” he said.

We don’t know if Musk dragged or was serious, but he responded to Trump’s threats by adage SpaceX will start the downgrading of its dragon spacecraft, which has been used for years to transport crews and cargoes to the space station.

Actually, There is now Astronauts at the station. They were brought there by a SpaceX capsule.

Getting away from the federal government to break these crew members and complicate the Trump administration’s objective to land astronauts on the moon in the years to come.

Later Thursday, Musk seemed to go back, writing On X: “OK, we do not unravel Dragon.”

SpaceX also builds hundreds of spy satellites for the Pentagon, Reuters reported In March, work which, if they were abandoned, could have implications for national security and cause a reaction from the intelligence community.

In addition, the SPACEX Starlink satellite network is a player In a federal effort of several billion dollars to extend Internet access to poorly served parties in the country.

Ukraine has also largely supported Starlink Services since Russia launched a large -scale invasion of the country in 2022, leading the senior Pentagon officials to coordinate directly with Musk, The New Yorker has reported.

Federal support for Tesla and the infrastructure of electric vehicles in doubt

Tesla, the largest electric vehicle company in the United States (which also controls the country’s largest burden network), was a major beneficiary of federal support.

This is likely to change under the bill of reconciliation of the massive congress defended by Trump.

The version of the bill adopted by the Chamber Would have chosen Consumer tax credits for the purchase of electric vehicles and federal funding for charging stations.

While experts from the automotive industry consider these cuts as car manufacturers inherited more than Tesla, Trump accused Musk not to support the bill because he emptied subsidies for electric vehicles.

Musk previously opposed the EV tax credits, considering them mainly benefiting its competitors, but it changed its air while Tesla’s profits and sales have dropped worldwide since Musk began to supervise mass license and other upheavals in the federal government thanks to the cost reduction unit, the Ministry of Effectiveness of the Government.

The end of federal programs aimed at developing the electric vehicle sector would not damage Tesla as severely as the other problems with which the automaker is confronted, said John Helveston, professor at George Washington University who studies the electric vehicle industry.

“Musk has not made Tesla favors by taking extremely unpopular actions in its time in Doge, and on a global scale, the company is struggling in other decisions, such as focusing on cybertruck instead of publishing more practical new models than consumers really want,” he said. “In the European Union, sales are sharply falling from political damage, and sales in China are declining intense competition from very competitive Chinese electric vehicles.”

During the Biden administration, Dedicated congress Billions of dollars to extend the load stations of electric vehicles nationally. A major pillar of this plan was that Tesla renders its chargers compatible with other vehicles, which Tesla accepted in exchange for a tranche of federal funds. This plan was arrested By the Trump administration, even before the Congress tried to adopt the bill on tax policy supported by Trump which would make support for electric vehicles even more.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, dean associated with the Yale School of Management, said that new pains for Tesla could possibly plunge Musk’s richness.

“Tesla depends extremely on the federal generosity for the construction of the EV load infrastructure, not to mention the federal regulatory approval for its continuous autonomous and robotic driving experiences,” said Sonnenfeld.

“His wealth is very precarious,” he said, noting that most of Musk’s fortune is linked to his stake in Tesla. “The reality is that Musk’s position is much lower than many think.”

Grants or not, Musk “will continue to prosper”

Trump-Musk’s acrimonious implosion on Thursday came only months after Trump transformed The alley of the South Pelouse of the White House in a Tesla exhibition hall, and after the White House upholstered Starlink to help develop the internet on the White House campus.

Both were performative gestures that crystallize the billionaire’s comfortable relationship with the president, who was ready to shake for musk after distributing more than A quarter of a billion dollars to support Trump’s race for the presidency.

Will Trump-Musk break the opposite way and inflict pain on musk companies?

Paul Levinson, professor at Fordham University, said it might lead to short-term stock market declines for Tesla and a blow to her wealth. But even if part of the federal money which takes place towards the Musk commercial empire disappears, it will probably not bother the long-term billionaire, he said.

“Musk offers many resources to maintain these losses, reshuffle and rebuild its companies and its assets, and appear in front and in mind,” said Levinson. “Conclusion: If the whole Trump government is doing in its quarrel with Musk is to attack its financial interests, Musk is very likely not only to survive but to continue to prosper.”