President Donald Trump’s administration confirmed on Thursday that it had canceled a deal the Biden-Harris administration made for the U.S. State Department to purchase $400 million in armored Tesla Cybertrucks.
According to NBC News, a State Department spokesperson confirmed on Thursday that the Biden-Harris administration had directed the agency to “explore interest from private companies to produce electric vehicles.” Following the administration’s directive, the State Department requested information to “solicit interest” in the initiative.
NBC News reported that the State Department spokesperson confirmed that only one company expressed interest at the time and that the “next step in that process” would have been for an official solicitation to have been sent to vehicle manufacturing companies for a contract bid. However, following reports of the State Department’s initial plan to purchase $400 million in Cybertrucks from Tesla, a State Department spokesperson said, “The solicitation is on hold and there are no current plans to issue it.”
According to The Post Millennial, the Biden-Harris administration’s plan to purchase $400 million in armored Cybertrucks from Tesla came as the administration implemented an electric vehicle mandate and intended to replace a significant portion of the federal government’s gas and diesel vehicles with electric vehicles. The outlet noted that Trump reversed the Biden-Harris administration’s plan following his inauguration last month.
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The Hill reported that the State Department’s “Procurement Forecast” for 2025 initially included a contract for “armored Teslas” and was expected to be awarded by the end of September. However, the outlet noted that the procurement document has been updated and now includes “armored electric vehicles,” not “armored Teslas.”
The Post Millennial reported that prior to the update, news outlets such as The New York Times suggested that the State Department deal indicated that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was using his position as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency under the Trump administration to secure additional government contracts.
Addressing reports that the State Department was planning to spend $400 million on Tesla vehicles, Musk tweeted, “I’m pretty sure Tesla isn’t getting $400M. No one mentioned it to me, at least.”
During a White House press briefing last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed potential conflicts of interest that could be caused by Musk’s work with DOGE.
“If Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that DOGE is overseeing, then Elon will excuse himself from those contracts,” Leavitt told reporters. “And he has, again, abided by all applicable laws.”
