Audio By Carbonatix

You’ve likely heard of the recent and fast-moving feud between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. That is, unless you’ve been camping. In a cave. On another planet. The two men duked it out in front of the entire world on the internet yesterday, criticizing political moves and threatening to nix contracts throughout the afternoon. One of the results? Tesla’s market value dropped like a stone to the tune of $152 billion. But much of the damage to the brand is done, and it’s global. 

The Elon Musk and Donald Trump rift already harmed Tesla, but the EV giant may be beyond repair in global markets

Even with slowly rebounding value and distance between Musk and the president, some of the damage is beyond healing. In the EU, the EV brand’s sales have plummeted due largely to Musk’s political activities. In France, for example, Tesla’s sales are down 67% year over year. For much of Europe, the brand’s wounded image will likely never fully recover.

Professor John Helveston of George Washington University said that Musk, as well as Chinese competitors, have harmed Tesla worldwide. “Musk hasn’t done Tesla any favors by taking extremely unpopular actions in his time at DOGE, and globally the business is struggling from other decisions, like focusing on the Cybertruck instead of releasing more new practical models that consumers actually want,” Helveston said. He added that “sales in China are down from intense competition of very competitive Chinese EVs.”

As for upcoming moves, a problematic relationship with government agencies like the U.S. Transportation Department could spell trouble for Musk’s Robotaxi initiative. Tesla said it wanted to begin deliveries of the so-called Cybercab by mid-June. But without any driver controls, the transportation department will have a substantial vote in whether Musk’s self-driving cars can self-deliver to customers, per Reuters.

SpaceX is a hot topic in the divorce, too

It’s not just Tesla, either. Musk recently threatened to begin decommissioning SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, too. It’s potentially bad news for astronauts like former Navy SEAL and Harvard Medical School graduate Jonny Kim. Kim is currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS), one of the more frequent destinations for SpaceX’s spacecraft. However, some experts are hopeful that the squabble won’t impact SpaceX contracts with the US Government.

“While their political partnership appears to be at an end, it is difficult to imagine the government canceling SpaceX contracts anytime soon,” said Dan Grazier, a senior fellow at the national security-focused Stimson Center. “It will be some time before any of the company’s competitors will be able to take up the slack, so it looks like the president and the tech mogul will have to find a way to get along,” per NPR. Evidently, Musk felt it too; He later posted, “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”