The businessman was a guest of Macron during the May 2023 Choose France summit meant to attract foreign investment. Musk, who arrived at the Elysée Palace in a Tesla, was due to talk to the French president about setting up a factory for his car brand in the near future. At the end of the meeting, Musk announced that Tesla would be making “significant investments in France.”
“Let’s work together,” Macron responded in a message on X accompanied by a picture of the duo.
Tesla never ended up investing big money in France, instead choosing to expand its German gigafactory. Last year, Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government also announced that it had opened discussions with the American carmaker.
The French president’s office still hasn’t given up on trying to woo Musk’s millions. The Elysée again welcomed Musk in grand fashion when he traveled to Paris to watch LVMH boss Bernard Arnault receive the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor in March. Unlike other advertisers, Arnault’s luxury conglomerate has not pulled its ads from X in response to Musk’s politics.
When Musk and Macron met one-on-one again, the two had “a very open discussion with the billionaire on X, digital regulation and strengthening French sovereignty” by trying to attract investment to the country, according to Macron’s entourage.
One organizer of the AI summit, who was granted anonymity in order to speak candidly, said Macron’s strategy with Musk was very similar to how the French president handled Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the initial aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine.
“As long as you can talk, you do it, hoping to avoid the worst,” the organizer said.”The idea was still to say that we needed him in terms of investment, because he’s a big player, close to Donald Trump.”