News
Musk speaks up against Trump’s immigrant ban, “they don’t deserve to be rejected”

The Trump administration’s temporary ban on immigrants from 7 Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days has drawn a measured response from Elon Musk. In the hours following the announcement of the ban, Musk tweeted, “The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges”.
Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the US. They've done right,not wrong & don't deserve to be rejected.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2017
Musk has drawn criticism in the past week for agreeing to participate in two advisory boards created by president Trump. He is a member of the Strategic and Policy Forum as well as Trump’s newly created manufacturing council. Musk has admitted on Twitter that the criticism from his supporters has him feeling a bit disheartened.
Yeah, am hearing this from a lot of people & it's getting me down. I'm just trying to make a positive contribution & hope good comes of it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2017
In an interview with Gizmodo published January 26, Musk answered his critics by saying, “[T]he more voices of reason that the President hears, the better. Simply attacking him will achieve nothing. Are you aware of a single case where Trump bowed to protests or media attacks? Better that there are open channels of communication.”
Tesla has issued the following statement in the wake of the Trump ban. “Tesla believes that the blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges. Many of the people who are negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the United States. They have done right, not wrong, and do not deserve to be rejected. We hope that this temporary action by the Administration transitions to a fair and thoughtful long-term policy.”
Other members of the tech community have added their voices. The ban is so comprehensive, it also affects those who hold green cards and may affect those who have permanent resident status, many of whom are employed in the tech industry. Tim Cook of Apple said in a memo obtained by TechCrunch, “In my conversations with officials here in Washington this week, I’ve made it clear that Apple believes deeply in the importance of immigration — both to our company and to our nation’s future,” Cook wrote. “Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do.”
On Saturday night, Brooklyn federal district court judge Ann M. Donnelly granted an emergency petition filed by the ACLU to block implementation of portions of the administration’s order. The judge’s order further muddies the water with regard to who can enter the United States and who cannot, who can stay and who must go.
Chaos at all major international airports is being reported by multiple sources. Apparently, the executive order imposing the ban was signed in haste without giving much thought to how it would affect hundreds of thousands of people who may have legal status in the US but are now barred from re-entering the country, at least temporarily.
Elon Musk may be wise when he says that the president needs to hear from “voices of reason,” but at the same time, he must exercise caution not to let his own reputation and that of the companies he leads to be tarnished by his association with a man whose actions are deeply unpopular with many people inside and outside the United States. There is an old expression that says, “When you lay down with dogs, you get fleas.” Navigating turbulent political waters may prove more challenging than Musk has bargained for.
Investor's Corner
Tesla investors want answers to these five questions during Q3 Earnings
These are the top five questions that have been asked and voted for by investors of the company, and what we think about them.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is preparing to report its earnings for the third quarter of 2025 this afternoon. Investors are looking for answers regarding the Robotaxi launch, energy division, potential future vehicle releases, Optimus, and demand stimulation without the tax credit.
Using the investor platform Say, Tesla allows investors to ask questions for the earnings call.
These are the top five questions that have been asked and voted for by investors of the company, and what we think about them:
- What are the latest Robotaxi metrics (fleet size, cumulative miles, rides completed, intervention rates), and when will safety drivers be removed? What are the obstacles still preventing unsupervised FSD from being deployed to customer vehicles?
- What we think: Tesla should release some metrics about Robotaxi operation, but it has been cryptic about fleet size and other statistics in the past. Additionally, CEO Elon Musk said Safety Drivers should be removed ‘by the end of the year,’ and we imagine this will be reiterated during the call. Regarding Unsupervised FSD, Tesla has stated that safety is its priority moving forward with the FSD rollout and Robotaxi as well.
- What is demand/backlog for Megapack, Powerwall, Solar, or energy storage systems? With the current AI boom, is Tesla planning to supply power to other hyperscalers?
- What we think: This is perhaps the only question of the five that Tesla will be totally forthcoming with, as it usually does not reveal vehicle plans or data on these earnings calls. However, it will be interesting to see if the company has any plans to supplement the increasing AI plans with its energy products. Energy falls under the radar with a lot of its achievements, so it really could be a major focus of this call if this question gets answered.
- What are the plans for new car models? Will Tesla build compact car models leveraging the unboxed Cybercab platform? Will Tesla build a traditional SUV and pickup truck on the Cybertruck platform?
- What we think: Tesla does not unveil or release plans about projects on earnings calls, so we doubt there will be much color here from executives. Considering Tesla has put so much weight on autonomy in the U.S., we’re not necessarily convinced it will plan to do much more than Cybercab, and SUV and pickup trucks will likely be built on a different platform as well, if they’re offered at all. Musk isn’t sure about bringing the Model Y L to the U.S. market due to the “advent of self-driving.”
- What are the present challenges in bringing Optimus to market, considering app control software, engineering hardware, training general mobility models, training task-specific models, training voice models, implementing manufacturing, and establishing supply chains?
- What we think: This will likely be where Tesla teases the capabilities of Optimus Gen 3, and comes up with some sort of rough date where it could show off the new design. Tesla has been using Optimus in its factories and other internal operations, so it’s likely we’ll hear some stories about that as well. Tesla is looking to refine the Optimus design so it is useful and capable in residential applications, and its hands are likely the biggest bottleneck as they are arguably the most crucial part of the product.
- Can you talk about demand stimulation avenues beyond affordability? Given the state of global politics, can Tesla’s brand elevate above the divisiveness and return global perception back to our inspirational roots of ludicrous performance, environmental good, and superior safety?
- What we think: Tesla is going to flex its new Standard offerings now, and the company has been transparent that Musk’s political involvement will wind down in a timely manner, according to the proxy it released when it revealed his pay package.
Energy
Tesla China’s Megafactory helps boost Shanghai’s battery exports by 20%: report
Located in the Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, the Tesla Megafactory has been running at full throttle since opening in February.

Reports from China have indicated that the Tesla Shanghai Megafactory has become a notable player in China’s booming battery export market.
Located in the Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, the Tesla Megafactory has been running at full throttle since opening in February. It produces Tesla Megapack batteries for domestic and international use.
Tesla Shanghai Megafactory
As noted in a report from Sina Finance, the Tesla Shanghai Megafactory’s output of Megapack batteries helped drive a notable rise in lithium battery shipments from the city in the first three quarters of 2025. This is quite impressive as the Megafactory is a rather young facility, though it has been steadily increasing its production capacity.
“The establishment of this benchmark factory has not only driven the rapid development of Shanghai’s energy storage industry but also become a new growth engine for foreign trade exports. Driven by the Tesla energy storage factory’s opening, Shanghai’s lithium battery exports reached 32.15 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) in the first three quarters, a 20.7% increase,” the publication wrote.
Ultimately, the Shanghai Megafactory has proved helpful to the city’s “new three” industries, which are comprised of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic systems. Exports of the “new three” products reached 112.17 billion yuan ($15.7 billion), a 6.3% year-over-year increase during the same period. The city’s total trade volume grew 5.4% year-over-year as well, with exports up 11.3%, driven largely by the clean energy sector’s performance.
Energy storage is helping Shanghai
Since opening in February, the Shanghai Megafactory has been firing on all cylinders. In late July, Tesla Energy announced that the new battery factory has successfully produced its 1,000th Megapack unit. That’s quite impressive for a facility that, at the time, had only been operational for less than six months.
Speed has always been a trademark of the Shanghai Megafactory. Similar to Tesla’s other key facilities in China, the Megafactory was constructed quickly. The facility started its construction on May 23, 2024. Less than a year later, the site officially started producing Megapack batteries. By late March 2025, Tesla China noted that it had shipped the first batch of Megapack batteries from the Shanghai plant to foreign markets.
Elon Musk
“Take Back Tesla:” Unions and corporate watchdogs launch campaign against Musk’s 2025 pay package
A new shareholder campaign is calling for Tesla investors to vote against Elon Musk’s proposed 2025 CEO Performance Award.

A new shareholder campaign is calling for Tesla investors to vote against Elon Musk’s proposed 2025 CEO Performance Award, arguing it would deepen governance risks and weaken corporate accountability.
Ahead of Tesla’s Q3 2025 earnings report, a coalition of unions and watchdogs launched the “Take Back Tesla” initiative, urging investors to reject Musk’s pay proposal at next month’s annual meeting. The plan would grant the CEO additional shares worth nearly $1 trillion over ten years, expanding his ownership stake in the company to about 25%.
Unions and watchdogs argue that Elon Musk’s proposed plan rewards distraction
The Take Back Tesla campaign is backed by groups such as the American Federation of Teachers, Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform, Ekō, People’s Action, and Stop the Money Pipeline.
As could be seen on the campaign’s website, the groups are arguing that Musk’s focus on political ventures and external businesses has distracted him from leading Tesla. The group’s website called Musk’s new CEO Performance Award “outrageous” as it involves an amount of wealth that is unreachable even by today’s top executives.
“In order to unlock the full amount of shares proposed in this compensation plan, Tesla’s value would need to increase dramatically to $8.5 trillion. As Tesla’s proxy statement points out, that would make Tesla roughly 2x as valuable as the most valuable company in the world (Nvidia) today. Arguably, growing Tesla’s value to double the value of Nvidia would justify paying Musk something like double the compensation of Nvidia’s CEO.
“But the annual value of Musk’s trillion dollar pay package isn’t just 2 times what Nvidia’s CEO made last year (just under $50 million); it’s more than 2,000 times what Nvidia’s CEO made last year. At his current compensation of $49.9 million, it would take Nvidia’s CEO over 2,000 years to earn the amount that Elon Musk could earn, on average, per year for the next ten years,” the group argued.
Board defends package as necessary, though some pushback is present
Tesla’s board insists the compensation plan is essential to retain Musk and sustain the company’s innovation in AI, robotics, and self-driving technology. The automaker noted that previous skepticism from proxy firms such as ISS and Glass Lewis preceded a 20x rise in Tesla’s market capitalization since 2018, a feat that seemed unrealistic when it was proposed.
As noted in a CNBC report, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who oversees a $300 billion pension fund, stated that while Tesla has been a great investment, he “vociferously opposes” Elon Musk’s proposed 2025 CEO Performance Award.
“Most of the time we’ve held Tesla stock, it has been a solid investment, it’s grown over time, and that’s why we haven’t chosen to dump it, he said, adding that he views Tesla’s Board as “insufficiently independent” since they have allowed Musk to be “absentee CEO.” Landers also argued that Tesla as a whole has failed to hit its targets when it comes to its Robotaxi program and its Full Self-Driving technology.
For context, Elon Musk has maintained that his 2025 CEO Performance Award is not designed for him to gather even more wealth. Instead, he stressed that it is required so that he could take a controlling stake in the company.
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