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A longtime Tesla bull has slashed his price target for the stock by 43% — arguing that President Trump’s trade war and Elon Musk’s controversial ties with the president have created a “perfect storm” for the company.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said he expects Tesla shares to hit $315 over the next 12 months, down from his earlier projection of $550. Tesla shares opened about 6% lower at roughly $239.43 per share on Monday alongside broad market volatility related to Trump’s tariffs.
“We have been one of the biggest supporters of Musk and Tesla over the last decade….but this situation is not sustainable and the brand of Tesla is suffering by the day as a political symbol,” Ives said in a note to clients on Sunday.
Tesla dealerships have faced a wave of vandalism attacks in recent months as Musk took center stage in the Trump-backed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Meanwhile, Tesla and other automakers have set to experience a spike in manufacturing costs as Trump tariffs of 25% on all imported cars and car parts hammer global supply chains. T
esla is considered less exposed than other American brands because it manufactures all of its US-sold cars within the states – but won’t be unscathed.
Other automakers also slumped in early trading. Among Detroit’s Big 3 automakers, Ford and GM each sank about 3% while Stellanis plunged about 7%.
Car sales in the US and Canada could sink by 1.8 million vehicles this year alone as a result of the tariffs, according to an analysis by Detroit-based firm Telemetry. If tariffs remain in place for the next decade, sales could be about 7 million units lower than they would have been in a scenario without a trade war and strong economic growth.
Job losses and higher vehicle prices are also likely as a result of the tariffs, Telemetry’s vice president of insights Sam Abuelsamid told Reuters.
“The bigger worry in our opinion is Tesla’s success in China as this key region is the linchpin to the future success of Tesla,” Ives added. “The backlash from Trump tariff policies in China and Musk’s association will be hard to understate and this will further drive Chinese consumers to buy domestic such as BYD, Nio, Xpeng, and others.”
Tesla deliveries – seen as a close proxy for sales – fell by 13% in the first quarter. Elsewhere, the number of Tesla trade-ins for other new or used vehicles at dealerships hit its “highest ever share” in March, according to a report from Edmunds.
As The Post reported, Trump’s trade war is also expected to provide a major boost to Chinese electric car maker BYD – which has already surpassed Tesla with annual revenue of more than $100 billion and has made inroads in key markets like Europe and South America.
In a sign of the trouble faced by Tesla, Musk appeared to break with the Trump administration over the weekend while criticizing trade adviser Peter Navarro.
“At the end of the day, I hope it’s agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk said during an event with Matteo Salvini, the head of Italy’s League Party.
Navarro fired back at Musk during an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, asserting that the Tesla boss was “simply protecting his own interests.”
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