Stop it, Musk.

Author | He Jian

Editor | Jiang Jiao

Cover | Musk X

Elon Musk, a close ally and significant financial backer of Donald Trump, who has publicly professed his love for the former president as "a straight man can love another man," has finally broken his silence and subtly expressed his dissatisfaction with the Trump administration.

Following Trump's unprecedented announcement of tariffs on almost all countries and regions worldwide, Musk stated at an event last Saturday that he hoped to see the establishment of a free trade zone between Europe and the United States. "Ultimately, I hope we can reach a consensus, ideally with both Europe and the United States achieving zero tariffs," he said.

Musk further expressed his wish for people to move freely between Europe and the United States and work on either side if they desired. He emphasized that this was his advice to the president.

Musk has always been a staunch opponent of tariff policies, partly due to Tesla's global operations. However, he had never publicly opposed Trump's tariff policy before. Instead, he took to social media to criticize government officials who formulated these radical tariffs, including a White House trade advisor with a Harvard Ph.D. in economics.

If Musk's dissatisfaction with tariffs can be considered subtle—after all, he didn't directly criticize Trump—then his brother, Tesla board member Kimbal Musk, was unsparing and directly scolded Trump. "Who would have thought that Trump is actually the president with the highest taxes among several generations of American presidents. Through his tariff strategy, Trump imposes a structural and permanent tax on American consumers," Kimbal said.

Tariffs may be the biggest reason for Musk's dissatisfaction since Trump took office. This tariff policy, though yet to be fully implemented, has already significantly impacted Musk.

Due to the panic in the stock market, Musk's personal wealth has shrunk considerably. According to Bloomberg's daily updated billionaire index, as of April 9, Musk's personal wealth had dropped to $290 billion, a decline of over $143 billion year-to-date.

Some commentators have stated that Musk has become the biggest loser in this round of tariff policies.

Among the world's top ten richest people this year, only Warren Buffett's personal wealth has increased.

Tesla's global sales are declining, with the exception of China.

Musk, known for his prolific posting on social media, has hardly mentioned Tesla sales since April. Instead, he has been busy expressing political views, criticizing surging Tesla protests in various places, and forwarding supportive voices.

However, he did specifically forward a post about the sales of the new Model Y in China, stating, "Tesla Model Y is #1 in China."

The Model Y underwent its first major facelift this year, four years after its launch, with China being one of the first regions to receive the updated model. In February, the new Model Y was officially delivered in China, over a month earlier than in the United States. The post forwarded by Musk stated that in March, over 43,000 new Model Y vehicles were delivered domestically, maintaining its position as the best-selling electric vehicle in China.

This may be one of the few pieces of good news for Tesla this year.

According to data from the China Passenger Car Association, Tesla's domestic sales reached 137,200 units in the first quarter of this year, setting a record for the highest quarterly sales since the first quarter of 2022.

The new Model Y likely contributed significantly to these sales. In February, Tesla China's wholesale sales were only 30,700 units, but in March, they reached 78,800 units, a month-on-month growth of over 150%. In the last week of March, Tesla's domestic sales reached 21,000 units, setting a new record for the highest weekly sales in 2025 for five consecutive weeks.

However, globally, even with the recovery of the Chinese market, Tesla's downward trend persists.

In the first quarter of this year, Tesla experienced its biggest quarterly sales decline in the past three years, delivering only 336,700 new vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 13%. This figure is lower than the 377,000 deliveries generally predicted by analysts, marking Tesla's worst quarterly sales since 2022.

Tesla's production and sales in the first quarter of 2025

Tesla stated that all four of its global factories have adjusted the Model Y production lines, resulting in reduced output for several weeks. However, the ramp-up of production for the refreshed Model Y is progressing smoothly, and batch deliveries have begun in multiple global markets.

Prior to this, Tesla's global sales declined by 1.1% year-on-year last year, marking the first annual sales decline in a decade.

Wall Street analysts are disappointed with Tesla's dismal first-quarter sales. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said, "Wall Street and we all knew that first-quarter sales were bad, but the actual situation was even worse than expected." He bluntly stated in his report, "By all indicators, the situation is terrible." Dan Ives has always been considered the most optimistic about Tesla on Wall Street.

Tesla does not disclose sales by region, so one can only glimpse the differences in Tesla's regional sales from the statistical figures of various local associations and institutions. However, even with varying standards across regions and institutions, Tesla's sales have unequivocally been in sharp decline.

The Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) stated that Tesla sales in Europe declined by 49% in the first two months of this year, while the overall sales of the European electric vehicle market increased by 28.4% during the same period. Tesla sales in France, Sweden, Norway, and other regions have nearly halved.

The United States is no exception. According to S&P Global Mobility, Tesla's new vehicle registrations in the United States in January this year decreased by 11% year-on-year, while sales of electric vehicles from traditional automakers such as Ford, Chevrolet, and Volkswagen increased significantly during the same period.

In February, overall electric vehicle sales in the United States hit a new high, but according to Cox Automotive, Tesla sales in the United States declined by 10% that month.

Tesla will announce its first-quarter 2025 earnings on April 22. Wall Street analysts have significantly lowered their target share price for Tesla. Wedbush Securities lowered its target price for Tesla shares from $550 to $315, a decrease of 43%.

Year-to-date, Tesla's share price has fallen by over 40%, and its market value has fallen below $700 billion.

'Send Musk to Mars'

Compared to Tesla's declining global sales, Musk has many other headaches.

Last week, a protest swept all 50 states in the United States, with thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets to oppose various policies implemented by Trump since he took office. The theme of this protest was 'Hands Off,' and Musk was also one of the targets. One of the slogans held by the participants was 'Send Musk to Mars.'

The main reason protesters resist Musk is the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) he oversees. The quirky acronym 'DOGE' is quite Musk-like, and its full name is 'Department of Government Efficiency.' This is a temporary organization newly established after Trump took office, aiming to maximize government efficiency and productivity.

DOGE Official Website

DOGE has faced significant controversy since its establishment, with much of its work focusing on radical layoffs and reductions in government spending. In just a few months, Musk led the approximately hundred-person DOGE department to eliminate over 20,000 government positions, with another 75,000 employees voluntarily resigning.

Third-party agency statistics show that US employers disclosed layoffs of over 270,000 people in March, setting a new high since May 2020, with the US federal government accounting for the most layoffs. Throughout the first quarter, the number of layoffs in the US federal government increased by 675% year-on-year.

Such aggressive layoff plans have caused dissatisfaction among ordinary people, especially considering Musk's immense personal wealth. Forbes reported that for years, Musk's companies such as SpaceX and Tesla have enjoyed financial benefits such as government tax subsidies and NASA contracts.

'As Elon Musk's DOGE shocks various federal agencies by cutting budgets and layoffs, Tesla and SpaceX, the cornerstones of Musk's enormous wealth, are still benefiting from public funds,' Forbes stated.

Opposition to Tesla has surged across the United States, with the slogan 'Tesla Takedown.' Some radicals have even attacked Tesla stores, vehicles, and charging stations on the road. Seven Tesla charging stations near Boston were burned down, a Tesla store in Las Vegas was bombed, and two Teslas were burned.

The boycott activities are not limited to the United States. Due to Musk's frequent controversial views on European political topics, there have also been multiple protests against Musk across Europe. Tesla stores in these regions have also suffered varying degrees of attacks.

Social media is filled with Tesla owners' dissatisfaction with Musk, and some owners are considering selling their Tesla cars and replacing them with other brands. Data released by the American automotive website Edmunds stated that the number of Tesla owners replacing their cars with other brands hit a record high in February and continued to rise in March.

Reuters quoted Quentin Wilson, the founder of the UK electric vehicle advocacy group FairCharge and a Tesla owner, saying, "Never has a car brand been so discredited globally."

Musk, who is active on social media all day, is unlikely to be unaware of these protests against Tesla, but he firmly believes that these attacks on. Tesla " areThose orchestrated who fund attacks on Tesla should go to jail," Musk said.

Musk has over 218 million followers on X, and he constantly forwards posts from supporters, attracting a large number of cheers under each post.

For example, in the early morning of April 9, Musk successively forwarded two posts praising him. One called him the Da Vinci of this era and a genius of the 21st century, while the other praised him as the Einstein of this era.

Stop it, Musk

People are so eager for Musk to shift his focus away from political affairs that even news claiming he would soon resign from DOGE could cause Tesla's stock to surge.

On April 2, after Tesla announced dismal first-quarter sales, Tesla's stock fell by over 6.4% intraday. However, after US media reported that Musk would soon leave DOGE, Tesla's stock turned around, gaining over 5% by the close.

Related reports stated that Trump told his cabinet members that Musk would resign in the coming weeks and return to the daily operations of his enterprises, where he would only play an auxiliary role in the future. However, White House officials and Musk denied it. Musk said on X, "Yeah, fake news." A few days later, he forwarded a news report in which Trump said he hoped Musk would stay as long as possible.

But in reality, even if Musk wanted to manage DOGE for a long time, it would be unlikely. As a so-called 'special government employee' managing DOGE, Musk is legally allowed to work for the government for a maximum of 130 days a year, meaning he would have to resign from DOGE by the end of May or early June at the latest.

Wall Street analysts particularly hope that Musk can stay away from political factors and return to Tesla's main business as soon as possible. They generally believe that Musk's excessive involvement in political activities has damaged Tesla's brand image.

Dan Ives said that the more Musk becomes politicized due to DOGE, the greater the damage to the Tesla brand. He noted that Tesla has become a global political symbol, and Tesla's brand crisis has reached a level five tornado.

"The board of directors should take full responsibility," Ross Gerber, an early investor in Tesla, posted on platform X. "Tesla's brand image has been severely damaged." Ross Gerber, once a staunch supporter of Tesla, is now more pessimistic about the company due to Musk himself. "Tesla needs a real CEO."

A poll initiated by CNN showed that only about 35% of people have a positive view of Musk, while 53% have a negative view of him. A survey released by Morning Consult stated that nearly 32% of American car owners would not consider buying Tesla cars, up from 27% last year.

Musk himself may also be aware of Tesla's difficult situation. He said at a public political rally that the market value of his Tesla shares had fallen by almost half, "The cost of this job is really high."

Earlier, when asked by Fox Business Network in an exclusive interview how he could lead his many companies while also juggling work on DOGE, Musk replied, "It's very difficult." He then sighed deeply and didn't explain further.

Despite this, Musk continues to sing high praise for the government efficiency department he leads, repeatedly stating that it is the most transparent government department in history.

In recent days, the market has shifted its focus away from Musk's departure, instead concentrating on the influence he can wield over Trump's tariff policy, particularly after his public opposition to tariffs.

For instance, during a program, Lawrence O'Donnell, a news commentator at MSNBC, directly inquired: "How many more billions of dollars is Elon Musk willing to lose before he takes more substantial action beyond merely telling Trump privately that 'zero tariffs are the right choice'?"

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