WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hit back at Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk over his criticism of Republicans' massive budget proposal, suggesting the tech mogul is primarily upset over provisions that slash government support for electric vehicles.

"Elon is upset because we took the EV mandate ... which was a lot of money for electric vehicles," Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office. "They're having a hard time, the electric vehicles. And they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy. And, you know, Elon knew this from the beginning."

Musk has been critical of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, calling it a "disgusting abomination" for how much it will increase the national deficit and put America "in the fast lane to debt slavery."

The sweeping tax, spending and policy bill would — among many other changes — gut federal support for Biden-era policies that supported a transition to electric vehicles. The bill would eliminate or scale back several tax credits for the purchase and production of EVs, including a popular $7,500 consumer credit. It also would eliminate tailpipe emissions rules that push automakers to more aggressively electrify their offerings over the next decade.

Trump, speaking to reporters during a sit-down with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, gave an extended, minutes-long response to a question about Musk.

"Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore," the president said.

Musk, until last week, helped direct the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, a controversial cost-cutting effort meant to rapidly downsize the federal government. Trump hosted Musk in the White House for a sendoff last Friday, thanking the billionaire for his work in the early days of the administration.

"I'll be honest, I think he misses the place. I think he got out there and all of a sudden he wasn't in this beautiful Oval Office," Trump said Thursday. He suggested Musk's hostility toward the bill was a sign of "Trump Derangement Syndrome."

Trump added: "I'm very disappointed. Because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here ... He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden, he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out we're going to have to cut the EV mandate."

Tesla, Musk's all-electric car and truck company, sold about 634,000 vehicles in the United States last year. That represented nearly half of all EV sales nationally. Detroit-based General Motors Co. was a distant second, selling about 114,000 EVs.

Musk, via his social media platform X, responded to Trump's comment: "False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!"

The bill passed in the House of Representatives but still needs approval in the Senate.

"Whatever," Musk added in another post. "Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill."

Tesla, in addition to selling EVs, also has a solar energy generation and storage segment to its business that generated more than $10 billion last year.

Share prices for the company plunged after Trump's comments, closing Thursday down 14.3% at $284.70.

Trump and other Republicans had signaled their intentions to end renewable energy and electric vehicle tax credits throughout the 2024 election cycle and in the early months of Trump's second term. Musk himself even invited an end to government subsidies for EVs.

"Take away the subsidies," he wrote in July 2024. "It will only help Tesla. Also, remove subsidies from all industries!"

Musk and Trump appeared to develop a friendship over the past year as the tech mogul worked vigorously to get Trump elected and later joined his administration for the DOGE effort. Musk even referred to himself as Trump's "first buddy."

Even as he had furiously criticized the GOP bill on X over the past week, Musk did not criticize Trump directly. But that changed Thursday after the Oval Office comments, as the duo's relationship quickly and publicly soured.

"Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate," Musk wrote. "Such ingratitude."

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