Alabama—The Trump administration has reportedly suspended the controversial deal between the U.S. State Department and Elon Musk’s Tesla company. This comes after reports that the deal could have been worth $400 million.
The deal, which was supposed to give the State Department armored electric cars, was still just being thought out. A government official said that Tesla was the only company interested in May 2024, when Joe Biden was president.
The contract would have been one of the biggest deals between the government and private companies this year if it had gone through. It would have helped Musk’s companies even more since they already get a lot of money from taxpayers. Since 2008, the government has given SpaceX, another company owned by Musk, almost $20 billion to help send people and objects into space. Tesla has also gotten $41.9 million from the U.S. government, which includes funds for cars it has given to some U.S. embassies.
Even though there were talks, Tesla or any other company that makes armored electric cars had not yet been given an official contract. The State Department had planned to put out a formal call for bids in May 2024, after getting information from possible suppliers, when Biden was in office. However, since Trump took office, the solicitation has been put on hold forever, according to officials from the State Department.
People are arguing about how much the government should spend, how much power Musk has in Washington, and how the federal government should invest in electric car technology in the future. For now, it’s still not clear what will happen with the armored electric car program.
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