After the White House rejected the company last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk slammed US President Joe Biden, calling him "not the friendliest administration."
Musk's remarks occurred during a Code Conference interview, and they came after a tweet in which the Tesla CEO ridiculed Biden with words akin to those used by former US President Donald Trump.
Last month, the Biden administration summoned car CEOs to the White House to discuss the shared aim of expanding electric vehicle manufacturing. Top executives from Ford, GM, and Stellantis were in attendance. However, Tesla, the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer, was not.
Tesla CEO claims Biden administration is "controlled by unions"
One possible explanation for Tesla's exclusion is that its production workers are not unionized, despite Biden's support for labor unions. Musk went even farther in the Code interview, stating that Biden's government was "controlled by the unions."
Musk slammed a White House symposium on electric vehicles in August, which automakers other than Tesla attended when speaking at a tech conference in California.
A request for comment from the White House was not immediately returned. Biden, accompanied by officials from General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, issued an executive order in August aiming to make half of all new vehicles sold by 2030 electric.
The United Auto Workers (UAW), which has over 150,000 members, is the largest employer of the so-called Big Three US automakers. When asked in August if the White House declined to invite Musk because Tesla employees are not unionized, White House press secretary Jen Psaki replied, "I'll let you draw your own conclusion," Reuters via MSN reported.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives have also suggested a $4,500 tax credit for union-made, American-built electric vehicles, igniting a battle between Tesla and Toyota Motor Corp on the one side, and UAW-affiliated manufacturers in Detroit on the other.
Elon Musk also expressed concern against China
Based in Palo Alto, California, Tesla has a facility in Fremont that employs around 10,000 people. The United Auto Employees has attempted to organize workers there on several occasions, as per MINT.
Elon Musk has also expressed alarm about China's increasing power problem, as experts warn that decreasing energy sources might disrupt global supply lines. China is currently experiencing an energy crisis, exacerbated in part by soaring coal prices.
The tightening of the country's grip on carbon emissions and bad handling of provincial energy rationing have added to the confusion, leaving homes, companies, and industries in the dark. Elon Musk, whose electronics business relies on China-based manufacturing running smoothly, has already felt the effects of the energy crisis.
A number of facilities that supply South African billionaire Elon Musk's electric vehicle firm, Tesla, have suspended operations due to the power outage. The production line of the Eson Precision Engineering firm in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, had to be temporarily halted.
Officials in China have pushed manufacturers and industries to reduce their usage, with energy restrictions impacting households and small companies. Scenes of chaos occurred in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, after traffic signals failed due to a power failure, locking commuters inside their vehicles.
On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs economists cut their growth projections for China, Express.co reported. As a result of "recent severe cutbacks to production in a variety of high-energy intensive industries," their GDP growth projection for 2021 has been reduced from 8.2 percent to 7.8 percent.
