US politics live: Elon Musk accused of ‘destroying’ Tesla’s brand as investors rake in billions betting against it

As financial experts marvel at just how much value Tesla has lost “so quickly”, boss Elon Musk is copping most of the blame - and some investors are raking in huge amounts of money.

Welcome, once again, to our live coverage of American politics. The drama trundles on.

As always, much of that drama involves billionaire and top Trump adviser Elon Musk, whose electric car company Tesla continues to struggle.

Tesla’s plummeting share price isn’t bad news for everyone. Britain’s Financial Times reports investors have made themselves about $US16 billion ($26 billion) betting against the company in recent months, the period during which its value dropped by about 50 per cent.

Tesla’s share price peaked at $US480 in mid-December, fuelled by the not unfair assumption that Mr Musk’s close relationship with then-president-elect Donald Trump would benefit the business. It’s now at a comparatively low $225 – roughly where it was at the end of 2023.

Much of the drop-off has to do with Mr Musk’s own conduct. There’s the political backlash against him in the United States, where Tesla’s core customers – we might call them virtue-signalling lefties – have gone off the brand en masse. And its sales are down in Europe, where Mr Musk has intervened in politics to boost far-right parties like Germany’s AfD.

“Tesla had a very strong brand value, and Elon has managed to totally destroy it,” hedge fund boss Per Lekander told the FT.

“He’s on the wrong side of his buyership. It’s not people with cowboy boots who buy Teslas.”

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has unleashed on one of America’s closest allies and trading partners, Canada, after being asked point blank to explain why he treats it more harshly than his nation’s “biggest adversaries”.

Mr Trump spoke to Fox News host Laura Ingraham today, covering a range of topics. At one point she pressed him on his treatment of Canada.

“You’re tougher with Canada than you are with our biggest adversaries. Why?” she asked.

“Only because it’s meant to be our 51st state,” Mr Trump responded.

“Look, I deal with every country, indirectly or directly. One of the nastiest countries to deal with is Canada. This was Trudeau. This was - good old Justin, I call him Governor Trudeau. He was - his people were nasty. And they weren’t telling the truth. They never tell the truth.

“You know, they’d say, ‘Well we don’t charge.’ Well they do. They charge tremendous. They charge tremendous.”

We think he was talking about America’s trade deficit with Canada there, but it’s hard to tell.

Read on for more updates.