TECH - California EV Subsidies Made Tesla What It Is But Elon Musk Is Ready To Cut Them Off: 'Remove Subsidies From All Industries' | Benzinga
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and California Governor Gavin Newsom are locked in a dispute after the former announced he's moving SpaceX and X headquarters near his home residence in Austin, Texas.
On Wednesday the pair exchanged public aggressions via X, as Newsom, a Democrat, accused Musk of "bending the knee" to former President Donald Trump.
Musk and Trump have had a long and tumultuous relationship. Musk was an advisor to the White House during the first Trump presidency, but quit as a way to express criticism of the Trump administration’s climate policies.
Recently, Musk endorsed Trump's presidential campaign following an attempted assassination of the Republican presidential candidate Saturday, donating millions to a pro-Trump political-action committee and changing his rhetoric around the climate crisis.
What Does The Musk-Newsom Beef Mean For Tesla?
Gossip aside, Tesla investors might be interested in the outcomes of the dispute, as California continues to host several key Tesla facilities, including a major factory. The Sunshine State has granted the company billions of dollars in subsidies since 2009, according to Newsom himself.
In 2021, Musk decided to move Tesla headquarters from Palo Alto, California to Austin. He later explained that the reasons behind the move were both political and operational. The company became officially incorporated in Texas last month after shareholders approved the move.
Tesla built its Gigafactory Texas facility in 18 months, and Musk said that's the time it would have taken California to issue the building permit alone. Last month, the entrepreneur announced expansion plans for the Texas factory.
Musk himself moved to Texas in late 2020, praising the state's permissive tax laws.
"California used to be the ...