Musk says US tariffs make solar power a challenge
Elon Musk marked his last-minute appearance at Davos with criticism of US solar tariffs and aggressive targets for Tesla, including humanoid robot sales next year, and signaled that Europe would get approval for its self-driving technology within weeks.
The world’s richest man, who for years described the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting as elitist, irresponsible and disconnected from ordinary people, was interviewed by Larry Fink, interim co-chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The BlackRock CEO expressed his admiration for Musk at the start of the wide-ranging discussion, which covered the future of robots and artificial intelligence, the economic benefits of reusable rockets and Musk’s “childhood fascination with science fiction.”
Musk has come to the fore in recent years thanks to his closeness to US President Donald Trump and his management of companies such as Starlink owner SpaceX, social media platform X and artificial intelligence initiative xAI.
Musk, who broke with Trump on renewable energy, said the United States could produce enough solar power to meet all its electricity needs, including rising demand from the proliferation of power-hungry data centers.
“You could use a small corner of Utah, Nevada, or New Mexico—a very small percentage of the U.S. area—to generate all the electricity the United States uses,” he added.
“Unfortunately, tariff barriers for solar energy are extremely high, making the economics of using solar energy artificially high,” Musk said.
Trump has openly criticized clean energy sources while encouraging oil majors to drill more for oil and gas.
Musk also said he expects Tesla to receive approval for its Full Self-Driving advanced driver assistance system in Europe and China by next month; This will be a major milestone as the company looks to monetize the technology outside the United States.
Musk, among the top executives speaking at his Swiss mountain resort this week, predicted robots would eventually outnumber humans, leading to a massive economic boom, and joked about traveling to Mars.
“People ask me if I want to die on Mars and I say ‘yes, but not under the influence,'” he said near the end of the 30-minute session, drawing laughter from the audience.
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