Tesla boss Elon Musk, who has a strained relationship to say the least with the Biden administration, had a meeting with advisers to the American president on Friday, the White House announced, according to AFP.
Elon MuskPhoto: Carina Johansen / AFP / Profimedia
He met with Mitch Landrieu, the US president’s coordinator for major infrastructure projects, and John Podesta, the energy transition adviser, said Karine Jean-Pierre, spokeswoman for the US executive.
The discussion focused on how two important laws passed under Joe Biden’s initiative “can grow the electric car sector,” she said.
The spokeswoman specified that Elon Musk did not speak with the president and assured that the fact that he is the owner of Twitter was not mentioned.
The visit was surprising because the businessman’s relationship with Joe Biden’s White House is known to be frosty.
The Democratic president, who is a big supporter of labor unions, blocked Tesla from attending a major electric car event at the White House last August.
Elon Musk, who is very hostile to unions, denounced this as “sabotage”.
More recently, Karine Jean-Pierre qualified Elon Musk’s attacks on Anthony Fauci, Joe Biden’s resigned adviser on the subject of the Covid-19 pandemic, as “incredibly dangerous”.
Tesla reported record profits this week, but faces growing doubts about the strength of demand for its electric vehicles.
Investors also wonder if the company is suffering because its boss now spends a lot of time on Twitter, which it acquired last October.
Since then, the social network has grown from strength to strength. In particular, Elon Musk last November restored the account of former President Donald Trump, who has not used it since then.
The Twitter chief said in a tweet Thursday that he also met in Washington with Democratic and Republican leaders of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries and Kevin McCarthy, respectively, to “discuss how to ensure that the platform ( sa) treats both parties fairly”.