After Elon Musk’s repeated complaints, Joe Biden has publicly acknowledged Tesla’s role in EV manufacturing!
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- For the first time in his term, President Joe Biden acknowledged Tesla as the nation’s largest maker of electric automobiles on Tuesday.
- Biden’s acknowledgment of Tesla occurs after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk spent several months disparaging and criticizing the president, his policies, and other Democratic elected figures.
- According to White House insiders, Biden’s dislike for Tesla originates from his view that the corporation is anti-union.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden officially acknowledged Tesla for the first time during his presidency, citing the company’s standing as the country’s largest maker of electric automobiles.
Biden mentioned Tesla during a speech promoting American firms who are building the country’s EV infrastructure. It was wedged between mentions of traditional automakers General Motors and Ford Motor, as well as smaller EV firms Rivian Automotive and Proterra.
So far as president, Biden has avoided discussing the firm, a choice White House sources believe is motivated by his belief that Tesla is anti-union.
The comment also comes after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has spent months actively criticizing, even taunting, the president as well as other elected figures in the Democratic party on Twitter and during press appearances.
Musk has expressed his displeasure with Biden’s pro-union and infrastructure investment proposals, as well as his seeming disregard for Musk, his enterprises, and Tesla’s leadership in electric car manufacturing and charging infrastructure.
Musk has said anything from naming Biden a “damp sock puppet in human form” to accusing the president of being “dominated by unions.”
That remark occurred after the Biden administration suggested an EV incentive package that would provide more funds to consumers who bought electric vehicles, but only if the cars were constructed by unionized employees.
Musk has also expressed disappointment that Tesla was not invited to the White House to discuss electric vehicles with other companies like GM and Ford.
Tesla fans even began a social media and outdoor advertising campaign to put pressure on the president to grant Tesla or Musk a nod.
Along with Tesla and others, Biden congratulated Tritium, a maker of rapid charging technology, on Tuesday for constructing a new manufacturing site in Tennessee. He also lauded Intel’s ambitions to establish a huge semiconductor chip facility in Ohio.
“Those semiconductors, microchips, power almost everything in our daily lives.” Cell phones, autos, refrigerators, the internet, and the power grid are all examples of technological advancements. “Those things cannot work properly without semiconductors,” he pointed out.
Increased local chip production in the United States, according to Biden, would allow extra manufacturing here and help relieve inflation.
One of the reasons automobiles cost so much is — they’re responsible for one-fifth of the recent inflation — is because they lack semiconductors. They’re not able to build ’em quick enough, so the price goes up higher because there’s fewer to sell.
said Joe Biden.
Then, as an example of a corporation that has invested in American manufacturing, Biden mentioned Tesla:
Since 2021, companies have announced investments totaling more than $200 billion in domestic manufacturing here in America. From iconic companies like GM and Ford building out new electric vehicle production to Tesla, our nation’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, to innovative younger companies like Rivian building electric trucks or Proterra building electric buses.
Joe Biden said.
During the Tuesday engagement, Biden did not speak much about labor unions, which was unusual for him. Tesla’s workforce in the United States is not unionized, unlike GM, Ford, and Proterra. Rivian‘s and other EV start-ups‘ workforces are currently unorganized.
Other nations realize what’s occurring here. They want to purchase American products as well. They’re willing to put their money on America and American workers, on those who established the middle class by earning fair wages and benefits and exercising their freedom to organize.
said The United States President.
Throughout his time as CEO of Tesla, Musk has been a vocal opponent of labor unions.
Tesla was found to have violated the National Labor Relations Act in 2021 after the corporation barred employees from interacting with the press without permission and Musk indicated in a tweet that unionizing would result in employees losing stock options.
Musk seemed irritated and displeased after the president‘s address on Tuesday. He used social media to bring the president’s attention to a report on a Tesla fansite, emphasizing that Tesla was the best-selling battery-electric vehicle company in the world in 2021.
