While the general American population has been hit quite badly for Donald Trump’s new tariffs, the billionaires are also not safe now. Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother appears to be the newest member in the list of people who have been burned by Trump’s tariffs as the Tesla founder has lost some $30 billion as reported by RadarOnline.com.
Kimbal publicly attacked Trump on X, as his post read, “Who would have thought that Trump was actually the most high tax American President in generations. Through his tariff strategy, Trump has implemented a structural, permanent tax on the American consumer. Even if he is successful in bringing jobs on shore through the tariff tax, prices will remain high and the tax on consumption will remain the form of higher prices because we are simply not as good at making things.”
Who would have thought that Trump was actually the most high tax American President in generations.
Through his tariff strategy, Trump has implemented a structural, permanent tax on the American consumer.
Even if he is successful in bringing jobs on shore through the tariff…
— 𝙺𝚒𝚖𝚋𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚔 🤠 (@kimbal) April 7, 2025
He further wrote, “A tax on consumption also means less consumption. Which means less jobs. Which in turn leads to less consumption. And then even less jobs.” Besides being a board member at Tesla, Kimbal also owns The Kitchen, a restaurant chain and was previously the director of Chipotle and SpaceX.
While Kimbal lashed out publicly, it does not mean that Elon Musk could avoid the damages caused by Trump’s tariffs. He also suffered badly after Trump announced “baseline 10% tariff for imported goods from all countries” along with “individualized” tariffs as high as 50% on a series of specific countries and regions.”
The stock market was also affected severely because of these new tariffs as The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite fell more than 5% and Musk’s net worth was brought down by $30.9billion. Amazon owner Jeff Bezos’s net worth also dropped by $27billion.
Moreover, ever since Elon Musk has joined Donald Trump’s government actively, Tesla has suffered quite badly as the company saw its worst quarter since 2022, as the shares dropped 22%. Throughout the country, there has been a rise in vandalism against Tesla owners and various Tesla stores and warehouses have also become sites of protest.
While a lot of the Tesla board members have been urging Elon Musk to leave his political career and agendas aside and focus on the business, he refused to do so, at least till now. Now that there are rumors of Musk finally leaving (or being made to leave) DOGE, he probably will be returning to business, as Trump said that while Musk is amazing, “I also think he’s got a big company to run.”
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Politico has reported that Trump had let his inner circle know that Musk is planning on stepping back from his advisory role. The media outlet mentioned, “The president remains pleased with Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency initiative, but both men have decided in recent days that it will soon be time for Musk to return to his businesses and take on a supporting role.”
However, the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had termed these rumors as “garbage” but did not outright deny them and said, Musk would leave DOGE when his “incredible work at DOGE is complete.” This also clearly hints at the possibility of Musk leaving soon.
While Kimbal has openly criticized Trump and Elon continues to maintain a good relationship with the American President, it now remains to be seen how these dynamics further progress amid the growing market tension.
