Tesla has warned investors that “changing political sentiment” could lead to those losses continuing, as the company faces what some are describing as a consumer backlash to Musk’s close association with Trump.

DOGE’s work ‘mostly done’

In his announcement about scaling back, he said his work “getting the government house in order is mostly done” and that he would continue to work with the administration on a part-time basis for one or two days per week “as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it’s useful”.

What’s going on at Tesla?

In its quarterly update, Tesla signalled that it wasn’t just Musk’s alignment with Trump that could have “a meaningful impact on demand for our products”, pointing to the US’s “rapidly evolving trade policy” as another potential pain point for supply chain-related costs.

Since the start of this year, the company’s shares have been volatile, shedding 37 per cent of their value when markets closed on Tuesday.

Signals of a Musk-Trump clash?

“I’ll continue to advocate for lower tariffs rather than higher tariffs, but that’s all I can do,” he said during the investor call on Tuesday.