US President Joe Biden dismissed concerns about the economy expressed by Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk earlier this week. Speaking to reporters in Delaware on Friday, Biden noted that while Musk talks about recession and job cuts, other manufacturers are thriving, which might signal a problem with Tesla, not the economy.
“While Elon Musk is talking about that, Ford is increasing their investment overwhelmingly… Ford is increasing investment and building new electric vehicles. Six thousand new employees, union employees I might add, in the Midwest,” Biden said, while also pointing to the successes of the former Chrysler Corporation in electric vehicle production, and tech giant Intel’s recent move to create 20,000 new computer chip jobs.
“So, you know, lots of luck on [Musk’s] trip to the moon,” Biden added.
READ MORE: Elon Musk warns of major layoffs at TeslaBiden’s comments came one day after the Tesla CEO wrote in an email to executives that he had a “very bad feeling about the US economy,” and announced that the company will be cutting 10% of its workforce. Musk has warned of an imminent recession in the US for some time now, saying it “is actually a good thing,” and “some bankruptcies need to happen,” while taking steps to avoid problems in his own company.
Musk was quick to reply to Biden’s comments, tweeting: “Thanks Mr President!” with a link referencing NASA’s April 2021 award of a $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX to build a spacecraft designed to take astronauts to the Moon.
This is not the first time Musk and Biden have engaged in verbal sparring. Musk has criticized the president and complained about his lack of acknowledgement of Tesla, as Biden openly favors GM and Ford in his push to remake the country into an electric vehicle powerhouse. However, earlier this year, following months of complaints from Musk, Biden finally acknowledged Tesla, calling it “our nation’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer.”
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