Nobody lost more money Monday as the stock market reacted to President Donald Trump’s tariffs than Elon Musk, Trump’s self-described “first buddy” and the world’s richest person, as shares of Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla struggled as the import taxes the company describes as a drag on profit await.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk celebrates at the inauguration.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Takeaways
- Tesla stock declined 5% by 3 p.m. EST, the largest percentage loss of the 46 American public companies valued at $200 billion or more.
- The dip knocked $10.9 billion off of the net worth of Musk, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list, by far the biggest loss of any billionaire; Musk is Tesla’s largest individual shareholder with a 13% stake and a further 9% equity bonus awaiting appeal.
- Tesla shares tanked as much as 7.5% in the morning, touching their lowest intraday level since Jan. 2.
- The slump came as part of a volatile broader trading session that dragged down the S&P 500 by as much as 1.9% in the morning before climbing back to a 0.4% daily loss, as the one-month pause on Mexico tariffs provided relief that the impact of tariffs will be less stark than Trump has vowed.
Why Tariffs Hurt Tesla Stock
Tesla had the unfortunate luck to belong to the two main groupings of stocks suffering the most Monday from tariff prospects: Car companies reliant on a symbiotic North American supply chain and companies which do significant business in China. In the company’s earnings call last week, Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s chief financial officer, warned “the imposition of tariffs, which is very likely…will have an impact on our business and profitability” as Tesla is “still very reliant on parts from across the world for all our businesses.” Artificial intelligence semiconductor architect Nvidia and iPhone maker Apple, both of which bring in at least 15% of their overall revenues from China, also suffered losses Monday.
Big Number
$20.9 billion. That’s how much revenue Tesla brought in from China in 2024, accounting for more than 21% of the company’s global sales.
Crucial Quote
“Things that inhibit freedom of exchange or distort the market are not good,” Musk said in May about tariffs on Chinese EV imports to the U.S. enacted by then-President Joe Biden.
Key Background
Musk has been uncharacteristically quiet on his X social media platform regarding tariffs, only responding “Oh well” to a post on an Ontario official announcing he intends to cancel the Canadian province’s $68 million deal with Musk’s SpaceX in response to the tariffs. Despite the threat of tariffs and the potential rollback of federal tax credits for EV buyers, Tesla stock has still performed remarkably well since Trump won in November, gaining 53%.
Forbes Valuation
With a net worth of $410 billion, Musk is more than $150 billion billion richer than he was on Election Day and about $160 billion wealthier than the next-closest billionaire, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
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