{"id":35641,"date":"2022-06-03T22:15:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T22:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/biden-digs-at-tesla-ceo-elon-musk-on-economy-touts-ford\/"},"modified":"2022-06-03T22:15:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T22:15:10","slug":"biden-digs-at-tesla-ceo-elon-musk-on-economy-touts-ford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/biden-digs-at-tesla-ceo-elon-musk-on-economy-touts-ford\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden digs at Tesla CEO Elon Musk on economy, touts Ford"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Joe Biden on Friday brushed off Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s reported “super bad feeling” about the US economy, <\/strong>while praising some of Musk’s competitors for expanding their investments in electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

Biden then took a dismissive-sounding swipe at Musk, a frequent critic of his administration. “Lots of luck on his trip to the moon,” Biden said of the SpaceX founder.<\/p>\n

The president had been asked about Musk after a speech in Delaware touting the solid jobs report released earlier Friday. The Labor Department found that the US economy added 390,000 jobs in May, a better figure than expected, while the unemployment rate held at the low level of 3.6%.<\/p>\n

Musk, meanwhile, told executives in an email Thursday that he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy and will need to cut 10% of Tesla’s jobs, according to Reuters. Tesla shares fell on Friday.<\/p>\n

Asked about Musk’s reported feeling, Biden praised Ford and Stellantis.<\/p>\n

“Well, let me tell you, while Elon Musk is talking about that, Ford is increasing their investment overwhelmingly,” Biden said, pulling a notecard from his jacket pocket.<\/p>\n

“I think Ford is increasing investment in building new electric vehicles, 6,000 new employees, union employees, I might add, in the Midwest,” he said, adding that “the former Chrysler corporation, Stellantis, they are also making similar investments in electric vehicles. “<\/p>\n

Biden also noted Intel’s plans to add 20,000 new jobs as part of an investment in Ohio. <\/p>\n

“So, you know, lots of luck on his trip to the moon,” Biden said with a wave of his hands.<\/p>\n

Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But within minutes of Biden’s remark, Musk tweeted “Thanks Mr. President!” along with an April 2021 press release<\/a> from NASA announcing that SpaceX, Musk’s rocket travel company, had been selected to land the next Americans on the moon.<\/p>\n

Musk, one of the world’s richest people, is in the midst of a deal to purchase Twitter for $ 44 billion. He’s recently taken to sharing more politically charged tweets, including one message last month bashing Democrats and vowing to vote Republican.<\/p>\n

The president’s put-down marked the latest point of friction with Musk, who has been openly critical of both the White House and Biden himself.<\/p>\n

In March, Musk bristled after Biden’s State of the Union address cheered the electric-vehicle efforts being made by Ford and General Motors while failing to mention Tesla.<\/p>\n

“Nobody is watching the State of the Union,” Musk said in an email to CNBC.<\/p>\n

Two months later, Musk slammed the Biden administration as ineffective and said that “the real president is whoever controls [Biden’s] teleprompter. “<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Biden shot back: “Count us as unsurprised that an anti-labor billionaire would look for any opportunity to nip at the heels of the most pro-union and pro-worker President in modern history.”<\/p>\n

– CNBC’s Brian Schwartz contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n