Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has joined another government forum, bringing him closer to the administration.
Elon Musk recently joined President Trump’s Strategic and Policy forum, but today, the White House also announced that he will be joining the president’s new manufacturing council, a private sector group that advises the U.S. secretary of commerce. The council, which is headed by Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris convened last Monday and several industry leaders, including Musk, were present. They have now officially signed on to the council. CNBC reports: “The group of business leaders includes Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and chief executives of large American companies like Ford, Dow Chemical, General Electric, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Richard Trumka, president of the labor federation AFL-CIO, will also give advice.”
One of Musk’s focuses has always been renewable energy and sustainability. Some may note that this seems at odds with the new president, who has been pushing for a renewed coal industry and job growth through an expansion of the fossil fuel industry. Musk is betting that job creation is what President Trump is really most interested in, rather than simply satisfying the oil industry. If Trump wants to promote job creation and Tesla shows that renewable energy and sustainability can create a lot of jobs, then their interests are aligned.
Tesla is planning for a lot of new jobs at their Nevada Gigafactory
Tesla currently employs over 30,000 people, more than 25,000 of which are in the US. This should at least make President Trump happy, who campaigned on the promise of helping domestic companies and punishing those who move across borders for tax relief purposes. Tesla wants to add a further 3,000 manufacturing jobs at its factory in Fremont, California, 1,000 at its solar panel factory in Buffalo, New York, and over to 6,500 at the Gigafactory in Nevada, which manufactures Tesla’s lithium ion batteries.
source: electrek
