U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 26, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
After President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would impose 25% tariffs on “all cars that are not made in the United States,” he said his key advisor, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, had not weighed in on the matter, “because he may have a conflict.”
He added that Musk had never “asked me for a favor in business whatsoever.”
Musk serves as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, having earlier contributed $290 million to propel him back to the White House. While Musk remains at the helm of his companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, he is also leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is an effort to slash federal government spending, personnel and consolidate or eliminate various federal agencies and services.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump turned the South Lawn of the White House into a temporary Tesla showroom. The company delivered five of its electric vehicles there for the president to inspect after he had declared, in a post on Truth Social, that he would buy a Tesla to show support for Musk and the business. Musk stood by his side while Trump called the vehicles “beautiful” and praised the unorthodox design of the angular, steel Tesla Cybertruck.
When asked by reporters whether the new tariffs would be good for Musk’s autos business, Tesla, President Donald Trump said they may be “net neutral or they may be good.” He pointed to Tesla’s vehicle assembly plants in Austin, Texas and Fremont, California and opined that, “anybody that has plants in the United States — it’s going to be good for them.”
Tesla recently wrote, in a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative, that “even with aggressive localization” of its supply chain domestically, “certain parts and components are difficult or impossible to source within the United States.” The company urged the USTR to “consider the downstream impacts of certain proposed actions taken to address unfair trade practices.”
Tesla and other automakers commonly buy headlamps, automotive glass, brakes, body panels, suspension parts, and printed circuit boards for various electrical systems in their vehicles from foreign suppliers in Mexico, Canada and China, especially.
Musk and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment about how the new 25% tariffs may impact their business.
Tesla faces an onslaught of competition with more automakers selling fully electric models than ever before. However, the company’s most formidable rival in battery electric vehicles, BYD in China, has never been authorized to sell its electric cars in the United States.
Detroit automakers General Motors and Ford saw their shares falling in after hours trading, while EV makers Tesla and Rivian saw shares nearly flat or slightly higher in response to the tariffs announcement.
Reid Hoffman, Partner at Greylock and co-founder LinkedIn, speaks during the WSJ Tech Live conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal at the Montage Laguna Beach in Laguna Beach, California, on October 21, 2024.
Frederic J. Brown | Afp | Getty Images
Two of the main members of the PayPal mafia are sparring again — this time over artificial intelligence.
Billionaire tech investor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman on Monday called Anthropic “one of the good guys” after the AI startup was criticized last week by David Sacks, the venture capitalist serving as President Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar.
“Anthropic, along with some others (incl Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI) are trying to deploy AI the right way, thoughtfully, safely, and enormously beneficial for society,” Hoffman wrote on X. “That’s why I am intensely rooting for their success.”
Hoffman has served on Microsoft’s board since 2017, shortly after selling LinkedIn to the software giant. Microsoft is a key OpenAI investor and partner. Hoffman was also an early investor in OpenAI, Anthropic’s larger rival, and remains a shareholder. He revealed on Monday that Greylock, where he’s a partner, has invested in Anthropic.
Greylock and Anthropic didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In a series of posts, Hoffman said he tries to avoid commenting directly about companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, but that “in all industries, especially in AI, it’s important to back the good guys.”
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Hoffman and Sacks were both early employees at PayPal, joining in 1999 and assuming major roles at the payments company. Along with Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Max Levchin and a group of other high-profile techies, they were part of what became known as the PayPal mafia because of the number of successful companies they went on to build.
But Hoffman and Sacks have been public antagonists recently, due mostly to their political differences. Hoffman is a major Democratic donor, contributing millions of dollars to Kamala Harris’ unsuccessful presidential bid.
Sacks emerged as a vocal Trump supporter ahead of the 2024 election before joining the administration. He hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his San Francisco mansion.
Politics of AI
AI has become an intensely political issue, mostly due to disagreements about safety issues and how it should be regulated.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a group of former OpenAI executives and researchers who left the company over concerns about safety. Jack Clark, one of the startup’s co-founders and its current head of policy, added fuel to the debate about regulation last week, publishing an essay called “Technological Optimism and Appropriate Fear.”
David Sacks, U.S. President Donald Trump’s “AI and Crypto Czar”, speaks to President Trump as he signs a series of executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Sacks criticized the essay and, in a post on X, accused Anthropic of “running a sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering.” He said the company is “principally responsible for the state regulatory frenzy that is damaging the startup ecosystem.”
Anthropic has repeatedly pushed back against efforts by the federal government to hinder state-level regulation of AI, including a Trump-backed provision that would have blocked those rules for 10 years.
After Hoffman shared his thoughts about Anthropic on Monday, Sacks and Musk, who owns a competing AI company called xAI and was also a major early figure in the second Trump administration, were quick to respond.
“The leading funder of lawfare and dirty tricks against President Trump wants you to know that ‘Anthropic is one of the good guys,'” Sacks wrote in response to Hoffman on Monday. “Thanks for clarifying that. All we needed to know.”
“Indeed,” Musk said in a reply.
The chirping went back and forth on Monday.
“Shows you didn’t read the post (not shocked),” Hoffman wrote. “When you are ready to have a professional conversation about AI’s impact on America, I’m here to chat.”
Jason Calacanis, who co-hosts the All-In podcast, along with Sacks and two other tech friends, wrote in response to Hoffman that he should “come on the pod,” inviting him this week. Hoffman previously joined for an episode at the end of August, roughly two months before the presidential election.
Hoffman wrote that he is “open to coming back on” but that “this week is packed.”
— CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report
OpenAI announced on Monday in a joint statement that it will be working with Bryan Cranston, SAG-AFTRA, and other actor unions to protect against deepfakes on its artificial intelligence video creation app Sora.
The “Breaking Bad” and “Malcolm in the Middle” actor expressed concern after unauthorized AI-generated clips using his voice and likeness appeared on the app following the Sora 2 launch at the end of September, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said in a post on X.
“I am grateful to OpenAI for its policy and for improving its guardrails, and hope that they and all of the companies involved in this work, respect our personal and professional right to manage replication of our voice and likeness,” Cranston said in a statement.
Along with SAG-AFTRA, OpenAI said it will collaborate with United Talent Agency, which represents Cranston, the Association of Talent Agents and Creative Artists Agency to strengthen guardrails around unapproved AI generations.
The CAA and UTA previously slammed OpenAI for its usage of copyrighted materials, calling Sora a risk to their clients and intellectual property.
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OpenAI had to block videos of Martin Luther King Jr. on Sora last week at the request of King’s estate after users created “disrespectful depictions” of the civil rights leader.
Zelda Williams, the daughter for late comedian Robin Williams, asked people to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her father shortly after the Sora 2 release.
OpenAI’s approach to copyright restrictions and other issues related to likeness have evolved since the Sora 2 launch Sept. 30.
On Oct. 3, CEO Sam Altman updated Sora’s opt-out policy, which previously allowed the use of IP unless studios specifically requested that their material not be used, to allow rightsholders “more granular control over generation of characters.”
At launch, Sora required an opt-in for the use of an individual’s voice and likeness, though OpenAI said that it is now also committing to “responding expeditiously to any complaints it may receive.”
The company reiterated its support of the NO FAKES Act, a federal bill passed designed to protect against unauthorized AI-generated replicas of people’s voice or visual likeness.
“OpenAI is deeply committed to protecting performers from the misappropriation of their voice and likeness,” Altman said in a statement. “We were an early supporter of the NO FAKES Act when it was introduced last year, and will always stand behind the rights of performers.”
Apple stock is getting its groove back as naysayers are proved wrong about the iPhone upgrade cycle. That means opportunity. Shares surged to an all-time intraday high Monday following a slew of positive commentary from Wall Street analysts and upbeat demand data for the newest iPhones. Apple was on pace to take out its Dec. 26, 2024 record-high close of $259. “People thought the tariffs were going to drive” iPhone prices higher, Jim Cramer during Monday’s Morning Meeting . “People [also] thought there was going to be not enough buying because of Siri. All nonsense.” “The misperception and misconception are overdone, and that’s why it’s a buy,” Jim added. New numbers from Counterpoint indicated the new iPhone 17 lineup has outsold the iPhone 16 models by 14% in the U.S. and China within its first 10 days of availability. Bloomberg first reported the data. “The base model iPhone 17 is very compelling to consumers, offering great value for money,” Counterpoint said. “A better chip, improved display, higher base storage, selfie camera upgrade – all for the same price as last year’s iPhone 16,” Counterpoint analysts added. “Buying this device is a no brainer, especially when you throw channel discounts and coupons into the mix.” For weeks now, Jim has been citing how the new iPhones are a bargain when considering the trade-in value of previous models and the carrier discounts. Counterpoint also said the brand new iPhone Air model has been doing “slightly better than the iPhone 16 Plus.” Preorders for the device in China began on Oct. 17. It sold out almost immediately. The analysts said, “This is a big milestone for Apple and more broadly for eSIM.” The iPhone Air is eSIM only, meaning it does not have the option for a physical SIM card. AAPL YTD mountain Apple (AAPL) year-to-date performance Wall Street analysts also enthusiastically chimed in. Loop Capital upgraded Apple to a buy from a hold. The analysts also hiked their price target to $315 per share from $226 — implying more than 19% upside from session highs of around $264. “While the Street is baking in some degree of outperformance from AAPL’s iPhone 17 family of products, we believe there remains material upside to Street expectations through CY2027,” according to Loop analysts. In this case, “through CY2027” means through calendar year 2027. That distinction is made because Apple’s fiscal year is such that when earnings are out after the bell on Oct. 30, they will be for the company’s fiscal 2025 fourth quarter. Over at Melius Research, analyst Ben Reitzes said Apple is “on a mission to silence its critics,” and that a beat and raise quarter “could be on the horizon.” “Near-term, sales into China are picking up and margins could deliver upside with iPhone 17 Pro Max momentum and lower hits from tariffs. We see shares getting a lift into CY26 and into a Siri/product event in the March 2026 timeframe,” said Reitzes, who has a buy rating and a $290 price target on the stock. “Apple’s Siri update has been delayed,” he said. “But it’s about to get better with significant AI enhancements.” None of this came to a surprise to Jim, who has been touting the benefits of Apple’s new iPhone models long before their September launch. “We’ve been saying the iPhone 17 is unbelievable,” he said on ” Squawk on the Street ” on Monday “Now, everybody’s catching up.” With Monday’s roughly 4.5% surge, shares of Apple were up almost 5.3% year to date. The stock for the first half of 2025 was a total dog on concerns around AI, various regulatory overhangs, and possible higher device costs from President Donald Trump ‘s tariffs. Since August, however, shares have been trending upwards following CEO Tim Cook’s additional $100 billion investment into U.S. manufacturing in order to appease the Trump administration’s call to bring Apple’s supply chain back home. “From the beginning, people underestimated it because they felt that Apple had lost its mojo,” Jim said. Monday’s spate of positive news just reiterates why shares have more room to run and why Jim always says own Apple stock, don’t trade it. To be sure, Apple shares were still underperforming most of its fellow “Magnificent seven” stocks, with the exception of Amazon , which has declined 2% year to date. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL, AMZN. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.