California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has shared that Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk has turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments.
In an interview with Axios, Newsom, on Wednesday, lamented Musk’s association with President Donald Trump. “One of the great disappointments,” Newsom said when asked about the SpaceX CEO.
Newsom then hailed Musk as “one of the great innovators of our time,” drawing parallels between Musk and inventor Thomas Edison. “He’s the Edison of our time. It breaks my heart,” Newsom shared. He added that he was one of the first people to get a Tesla vehicle off the line. “I’ve been one of their biggest proponent supporters,” Newsom said.
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The California Governor then shared how a favorable regulatory environment in California helped Musk to become a “multi-billionaire, maybe trillionaire, that he’s become.”
Describing it as the “greatest own goal,” Newsom shared that Musk, as well as Trump, were letting Chinese EVs grow on the global stage. “They have 70% of the global EV market. It’s about statecraft with them. It’s about supply chains. They’re flooding the zone all around the globe,” Newsom said.
He then outlined Canada’s tariff agreement with China, which would allow over 49,000 Chinese-made EVs into the country at a lower tariff rate, with potential for that figure to be extended to 70,000. “It’s a national security play and I really fear what’s going to happen to American legacy automobile manufacturers,” the Governor added.
Interestingly, Newsom’s administration had hailed the deal between China and Canada, with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) chair, Lauren Sanchez, sharing that she was “excited to see what unfolds in Canada.”
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Newsom also appeared to lament Tesla’s shift away from EVs and onto robots. “He’s put the brakes on his own innovation in that space [automobiles] and now shifted to robotics, humanoids,” Newsom shared.
Musk, on the other hand, has hinted at a possible new model in the Tesla lineup, signalling that the automaker wasn’t entirely done with EVs after all.
The Governor also shared his thoughts on Palantir Technologies Inc.‘s Peter Thiel, saying that the entrepreneur possessed a “next-level intellect,” but had become “nihilistic.”
