'We'll have to see': Trump vague on Musk's deportation question

Donald Trump said that «we need to look at» the issue of deportation of Ilon Musk - CEO of Tesla, who was born in South Africa and received American citizenship as an adult. The US president's remarks came after a new escalation of his conflict with the billionaire over the «great and wonderful» tax and budget bill. In 2024, The Washington Post wrote that Musk started his career in the US working illegally.

«I don't know. We'll have to see,» U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters in response to a question about whether he was going to deport Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

«We may have to target [Department of Government Efficiency] DOGE at Ilon. DOGE is a monster that may have to come back and eat Ilon. That would be horrible, wouldn't it,» Trump continued. Musk was behind the creation of the department, headed it for several months and stepped away from its leadership in May.

Musk was born in South Africa in 1971 and received Canadian citizenship on his mother's side. The future billionaire arrived in the U.S. in 1992 and acquired American citizenship a decade later, noted CNN, citing the businessman's biography. The Washington Post wrote in October 2024 that Musk began his career in the U.S. working illegally. According to the newspaper, investors in Musk's first company, Zip2, feared «deportation of the founder» and set a deadline for Musk, along with his brother Kimball, to obtain a status officially authorizing work.

Musk then claimed that he «had a right to work in the United States.»

Trump's comments were a new twist in a renewed spat between him and Musk criticizing the «big and beautiful» tax and budget bill. On June 30, Musk after weeks of silence, again criticized the document Trump is promoting. Trump responded by accusing the head of Tesla and SpaceX of being too keen on subsidies from the U.S. budget and threatened to stop government funding.

«Elon has probably received more subsidies than any person in history, by a huge margin, and without those subsidies he would probably have to close the business and go home to South Africa [...] Maybe DOGE should look into this issue properly? SAVE HUGE funds!!!,» wrote Trump on Truth Social earlier Tuesday.

Trump believes Musk's opposition to the bill is due to the elimination of subsidies that benefit many of his business projects, Bloomberg noted. In particular, the document would end tax credits for individual electric vehicle purchases that have helped boost electric car sales, the agency explained.

In response to Trump's threat to end subsidies for electric cars and space launches, Musk wrote on his platform X wrote, «I'm literally saying CANCEL EVERYTHING. Right now.»

Tesla shares crashed by nearly 8% after opening trading on July 1, but then slowed slightly to about 5%. After the initial outbreak of conflict between Trump and Musk, Argus analysts were expressing concern about that, as well as the expiration of tax credits for electric cars. The tension between Trump and Musk adds uncertainty to Tesla's prospects and could intensify questions about damage to the brand, noted Baird analyst Ben Kallo at the time. Both Argus and Baird then downgraded Tesla's stock.

On June 30, Deutsche Bank reiterated for Tesla shares a recommendation buy (Buy rating) with a target price of $345 per share, while JPMorgan reiterated a advice to sell (Sell) rating and a $115 target. The electric car maker's consensus investment rating has remained neutral (Hold) in recent months. The average target of $311 per paper implies a 2% decline in their value over the next year.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor