President Trump hosted an unique automobile present on the White Home on Tuesday afternoon.

The one firm represented: Tesla. The one objective: serving to Elon Musk.

With Tesla dealing with a backlash over Mr. Musk’s position within the Trump administration, the president stated he wished to purchase one of many firm’s electrical automobiles. However Mr. Trump, at all times a salesman, didn’t simply need to buy a automobile. He wished to hawk it and assist out his good friend, who additionally occurs to be Tesla’s chief government.

The 30-minute confab was half information convention, half automobile industrial as Mr. Trump oscillated between answering questions — in regards to the inventory market, Canadian tariffs and the struggle in Ukraine — and attempting out 5 totally different Tesla automobiles.

“The one I like is that one,” Mr. Trump stated, pointing at a vibrant crimson Mannequin S, which prices roughly $80,000. “And I need that very same shade.” (Mr. Musk, who was standing beside the president, seemingly tried to promote him on a Cybertruck, saying: “That is bulletproof.”)

It was a unprecedented scene of a president utilizing the backdrop of the White Home to spice up gross sales for a good friend and prime donor. And it got here as Mr. Musk has signaled to Trump advisers in recent days that he needs to place $100 million into teams managed by the Trump political operation, in line with individuals with data of the matter.

The occasion was made all of the extra surreal as a result of Mr. Trump has for years bashed electrical automobiles. On Christmas Day in 2023, he posted on social media that electrical automobiles ought to “ROT IN HELL.”

He has stated the automobiles value an excessive amount of and can’t drive far sufficient without having to be charged. However the second level shouldn’t be an issue now for Mr. Trump, who stated on Tuesday that the Secret Service wouldn’t permit him to drive the automobile.

“I haven’t pushed a automobile in a very long time, and I like to drive automobiles,” he advised reporters. “However I’m going to have it on the White Home, and I’m going to let my workers use it.”

Mr. Trump stated he would pay with a verify and that he didn’t need a low cost.

Most presidents keep away from selling or endorsing merchandise as a result of government department staff are prohibited from doing so on behalf of mates and kinfolk. In Mr. Trump’s first time period, one in all his advisers, Kellyanne Conway, was reprimanded for violating these guidelines when she urged individuals to purchase Ivanka Trump’s trend merchandise.

However these guidelines don’t apply to the president. Shares of Tesla rose barely on Tuesday, although they continue to be down total since December.

“President Trump made the non-public resolution to purchase a Tesla, at a market fee,” Harrison Fields, a White Home spokesman, stated in a press release.

Mr. Trump stated he merely wished to assist Mr. Musk, who’s main his marketing campaign to slash the federal work pressure.

“I feel he’s been handled very unfairly by a really small group of individuals,” Mr. Trump stated. “And I simply need individuals to know that he can’t be penalized for being a patriot.”

Theodore Schleifer and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.