There’s no denying that Elon Musk and Donal Trump are among the most powerful people on the planet. But Elon Musk has historically been a Democrat and was a supporter of Barrack Obama. Trump has dismissed global warming and has called EVs an economic disaster. In fact, when President Trump withdrew from the Paris climate accords, Elon Musk quit his White House advisory committee in protest. But now he’s endorsing Trump and pledging $180 million to his third Presidential campaign. In exchange, could your next EV be cheaper?

For years, Tesla buyers have enjoyed a federal tax credit–and possibly a local state tax credit–because they were buying an EV. When President Biden revamped the EV tax credit, he insisted most battery components be from a U.S. ally (so not China). Now, some Teslas qualify, others don’t. This may be why Elon Musk tweeted, “Take away the subsidies. It will only help Tesla.” It would also help Musk if a President tweaked the subsidies to favor Tesla.

The latest Tesla annual meeting had millions of shareholders and fans call in. They voted 84% in favo of the most lucrative pay package ever granted to a CEO. Then someone asked about a potential second Trump term and Musk’s relationship with the retired President. Musk joked, “I can be persuasive.”

“I mean, I have had some conversations with him and he just called me out of the blue for no reason, I don’t know why, but he does…And it’s like he’s very nice when he calls and I was like, electric cars, I think are pretty good for the future. America is the leader in electric cars, buy American stuff. And I think he actually – a lot of his friends now have Teslas and they all love it. And he’s a huge fan of the Cybertruck. So I think those may be contributing factors, yeah.”

Elon Musk

There’s another way that the U.S. President could, potentially, help Tesla out: blocking Chinese EVs. China is building the world’s most cost-effective EVs. Some have suggested we loosen restrictions to make these EVs available to U.S. buyers. But Donald Trump often focuses on foreign auto tariffs and has historically been tough on China. He threatened a 100% tariff on Chinese nameplate vehicles assembled in Mexico. That said, EVs with Chinese engineering and batteries that are assembled in Mexico could be the cheapest on the market until Detroit catches up. So such a tariff could make your next EV more expensvie.

Finally, Elon Musk may be investing in his relationship with Donald Trump for a third reason. The National Labor Relations Board has cited Elon Musk for repeated illegal “anti-unionizing” activity. The Biden administration blatantly uninvited Musk from White House events, likely because of Musk’s anti-UAW stance.

Musk may have recognized that it’s only a matter of time before President Biden sides with the UAW and insists Tesla allow its 120,000 workers to unionize if they want to. In fact, early drafts of Biden’s EV tax credit specified that the vehicle needed to be “union made.” So investing $180 million in a different President could be smart business for Musk and make your next Tesla cheaper.