President Joe Biden praised Tesla on Tuesday after CEO Elon Musk criticized the president for being “unable to say” the company’s name while advocating for his administration’s green energy policies.
The apparent snub last year came despite the company being one of the largest electric vehicle producers in the world.
Biden, speaking alongside White House Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and other administration officials at the White House, made the comments while announcing that Australia’s Tritium, a manufacturer of EV chargers, will soon break ground on its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Tennessee. The new plant will house six production lines capable of producing 30,000 EV chargers per year and will create 500 local jobs, according to White House officials.
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“Since 2021, companies have announced investments totaling more than $200 billion in domestic manufacturing here in America,” the president said during the ceremony. “From iconic companies like GM and Ford building out new electric vehicle production to Tesla, our nation’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, to innovative younger companies like Rivian building electric trucks or Proterra building electric buses.”
Musk has spent months complaining about Biden giving Tesla the cold shoulder even though another one of his companies, SpaceX, currently holds billions in NASA contracts.
Reporters further pressed White House press secretary Jen Psaki about Biden’s about-face during Tuesday’s press briefing, but she did not let on if Biden’s speech marked an official messaging change from the president.
“We all know that Tesla is a major producer of electric vehicles,” Psaki said in response to one question. “Certainly, the electric vehicle industry is one that we feel is a huge opportunity for the United States to move towards our clean energy goals and objectives, and a range of automobile makers are a part of that effort.”
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You can watch Biden’s remarks in full below.
