Musk and Vance Were Begged By Friends to Stop Trump From Implementing Tariffs: Report

A new report has revealed that people close to senior staff of the Trump administration made various appeals to inner circle officials, such as Vice President JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk, hoping that they would convince the president to implement more reasonable free trade policies.

Many of the company leaders and founders who supported President Donald Trump's campaign leading up to the 2024 elections were caught off guard by his decision to implement the sweeping tariffs he had been threatening to enact for months. Many continued to support Trump's campaign under the belief that advisors such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would stop him from implementing tariffs which could harm the U.S. economy, sources told The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been outspoken about his support for sweeping tariffs and other protectionist policies that many had not anticipated he would support.

A friend of Musk's, investor Joe Lonsdale, took to social media to make arguments against tariffs, voicing his belief that they hurt American industries and were not being implemented properly.

"I've been investing in manufacturing, but it's not easy and most have no idea how this all works. Ironically I also put billions into US bio manufacturing, but they exempted our competition from any tariffs!" he wrote. "And when they also tariff all resources - INPUTS - it doesn't help."

"I'm not quite as negative as Molson, but he makes some good arguments and his point #13 reflects a lot of my key concerns about how the tariffs could be done better," Lonsdale added, responding to an article from Viahart CEO Molson Hart in which he argues that tariffs will not boost American manufacturing.

"The backlash from Trump tariff policies in China and Musk's association will be hard to understate," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told the Post. Wedbush Securities is a Tesla backer who was able to decrease Tesla's stock price target, an indicator of viability, from $550 to $315, stating that it allowed them "to reflect these new softer demand estimates."

"Tesla has essentially become a political symbol globally ... and that is a very bad thing for the future of this disruptive tech stalwart and the brand crisis tornado that has now turned into an F5 tornado," he added.

This year, Tesla stock has lost over 38% of its value already. On Monday, it was reported that stock for the company closed at $233.29 per share.