Gov. Gavin Newsom ‘not worried’ about Elon Musk’s threat to move Tesla

California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’s “not worried” about Elon Musk making good on his threat to move Tesla out of the state.

Newsom said he isn’t concerned about the billionaire Tesla CEO leaving California “any time soon” despite a recent dustup over the reopening of the electric-car maker’s Bay Area plant.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with him and we’re committed to the success of the innovation and the low-carbon, green-growth economy that he’s been promoting for decades and the state of California is accelerating in,” Newsom, a Democrat, told CNBC in a Tuesday interview.

Musk pledged to move Tesla’s headquarters to Texas or Nevada earlier this month after Alameda County officials blocked him from reopening the company’s car factory in Fremont. The plant had been shut down since late March under a local lockdown order meant to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

Palo Alto-based Tesla restarted production at the factory last week in defiance of the order, with Musk effectively daring local authorities to arrest him. The company also sued to block Alameda County from enforcing the order before officials agreed to let the plant reopen as long as it sufficiently protected workers from the virus.

Newsom said California was able to find “common ground” with Tesla despite Musk’s bitter attacks on local officials. Tesla has called itself California’s largest manufacturing employer with more than 10,000 workers at its Fremont plant and 20,000 statewide.

“I’ve known Elon for decades, I have great respect and admiration for his innovative spirit, and this state has been his partner in helping him grow his business,” Newsom told CNBC.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Newsom’s remarks.

Newsom’s comments came a week after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Musk told him he was interested in moving Tesla to the Lone Star State. SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company, already has a launch site and a development facility in Texas, and Musk previously teased the idea of building a Tesla “Gigafactory” there.

Tesla shares were up 1 percent in premarket trading Wednesday at $816.10 as of 7:24 a.m.