When Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump for president last month, the Tesla founder and chief executive backed a candidate who vows to "drill, baby, drill," "end the electric vehicle mandate" and reduce subsidies of the sort that helped Tesla become the U.S.'s dominant EV manufacturer.
So instrumental have government loans, tax breaks and other EV policies been to Tesla's fast growth that despite Musk's gradual embrace of the former president and his Republican Party rhetoric in recent years, the company continues to lobby the U.S. and state governments for benefits championed by the Democratic Party.
In February, for instance, Tesla in a filing with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urged the Biden administration to allow California to pursue stricter vehicle emissions rules than the rest of the country — an idea Trump opposes.
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