type: timeline_event President Trump declared a consumer boycott of Tesla "illegal" on March 11, 2025, and announced he planned to purchase a Tesla himself to demonstrate support for Elon Musk, whose company had seen its sales decline amid protests against Musk's leadership of DOGE. The boycott had emerged organically on social media and through grassroots organizing by progressive consumers who opposed Musk's government role and his political activities, including his financial support for far-right politicians in Europe and the U.S. Tesla's stock price and sales had declined as the boycott gained traction, with demonstrations occurring at Tesla dealerships across the country.
Trump's claim that boycotts were illegal was legally groundless; consumer boycotts are protected political speech under the First Amendment, and no statute criminalizes organizing customers to avoid purchasing a product. The Guardian and CNBC reported that Trump's statements were widely characterized by legal experts as misinformation about basic constitutional rights. Trump also threatened unspecified federal action against those organizing the boycott, though no legal basis for such action was identified. The episode was notable as a president using the power and platform of his office to defend a private corporation owned by his key political ally.
The incident illustrated the profound blurring of government and private commercial interests in the Trump-Musk relationship. Musk had provided enormous political and financial support to Trump's 2024 campaign and was simultaneously wielding enormous power through DOGE over federal agencies, including the NHTSA that regulated Tesla. Trump's use of presidential authority to attempt to suppress a consumer boycott of Musk's company represented a form of government protection for a private business that critics characterized as abusing executive power for the benefit of a political ally. Rolling Stone noted that Trump's defense of Musk came even as Tesla's market share and stock price were declining substantially from their 2024 peaks.