Tesla CEO Elon Musk bats for H-1B visas, says tariffs distort markets
Elon Musk reacts during a press event with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured), at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the U.S. has been a beneficiary of talent from India, while adding that the H1-B visa program had been misused by companies.
In a podcast with Indian entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath aired Sunday, Musk said that while some companies had been using the H-1B visa to hire foreign employees at a “fraction of the cost of an American citizen,” his companies hire people to make up for the “scarcity of talented.”
U.S. President Donald Trump in September raised the H-1B visa fees to $100,000, disproportionately affecting Indians workers that make up more than 70% of H-1B visa holders. Trump last month appeared to soften his stance on H1-B visas, saying in an interview to Fox News that foreign labor was needed at times because U.S. did not have “certain talents.”
“I’m certainly not in the school of thought that we should shut down the H-1B program,” Musk said, adding that it would be “very bad.”
Musk, whose relationship with the U.S. president appears to be on the mend having soured in May over Trump’s spending bill, also raised concerns over the U.S. administration’s tariff policy. Once a close aid of Trump, Musk said he tried to dissuade the president from taking the tariff route, but was unsuccessful.
“I think generally free trade is better” Musk said, adding that tariffs create distortions in markets. If tariffs at an individual level, or within each state of U.S. would be disastrous for the economy, “then why do you want tariffs between countries?” he said.
The Tesla CEO, who spearheaded the formation of the Department of Government Efficiency that was recently disbanded with eight months left to its mandate, according to Reuters, said “the president has made it clear he loves tariffs.”
Trump has levied “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries, with several managing to strike a deal with the U.S. to lower levies.
In the podcast with Kamath covering a wide range of topics, Musk also laid out his vision for the future, forecasting that working will be optional in less than 20 years and money as a concept would “disappear.”
Energy is the true currency, Musk said. “This is why I said bitcoin is based on energy. You can’t legislate energy.”
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have seen a sharp sell-off over the past two months as investor mood sours on digital assets.
