By Akash Sriram
(Reuters) – Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday that U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s potential removal of support for electric vehicles would hurt other automakers more than the Austin, Texas-based firm.
“It would be devastating for our competitors, and it would hurt Tesla slightly but long term probably actually helps Tesla would be my guess,” Musk said in a post-earnings conference call after the EV maker reported its lowest profit margin in more than five years.
Former President Trump, the Republican candidate supported by Musk, has been critical of the Biden administration’s EV policies and has said that he will “end the electric vehicle mandate” if he wins office.
Trump has not explained the plan in detail.
Musk said any Trump removal of subsidies, and the resulting impact on Tesla car sales was not crucial because Tesla is an artificial intelligence company focused on self-driving technology.
“The value of Tesla overwhelmingly is autonomy. These other things are in the noise relative to autonomy,” Musk said.
The billionaire announced his endorsement of Trump shortly after an assassination attempt on the presidential candidate this month.
Musk has denied a media report that he pledged to donate $45 million per month to Trump, but he said he had created a political action committee.
Musk’s support for Trump created some confusion among Tesla fans who questioned how his election would help the EV company.
Trump’s pick for vice president, JD Vance, last year introduced a bill to eliminate EV subsidies and replace them with a credit to promote gas-powered vehicles, though it has virtually no chance of passing in the current Congress.
Musk said in a post on X last week, “Take away the subsidies. It will only help Tesla. Also, remove subsidies from all industries!”
In his acceptance speech at the Republican Party’s convention last week in Milwaukee, Trump said his administration would slap tariffs of 100% to 200% on cars made in Mexico to make them “unsellable” in the United States.
Musk said on Tuesday the EV maker has paused plans for a plant in Mexico and would reassess investing in a new gigafactory in the country after the U.S. presidential election.
“Trump has said that he will put heavy tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico so it doesn’t make sense to invest in Mexico,” he said.
Musk said Tesla is increasing capacity at its existing factories significantly and plans to produce robotaxis at its factory in Texas.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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