Tech Voices: Musk’s America Party, Navarro blasts Apple, Robinhood

Seeking Alpha’s daily roundup of remarks and statements that could impact the technology sector.

• Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX (SPACE) CEO Elon Musk threw more fuel on the fire in his feud with President Trump by announcing he is launching a new political party called the America Party.

“One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts. Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people,” Musk wrote in a post on July 4.

Trump responded to Musk’s announcement by claiming Musk was “off the rails” and had “becoming a TRAINWRECK,” according to a July 6 post on Truth Social.

• Robinhood’s (NASDAQ:HOOD) lead regulator in the European Union, Bank of Lithuania, is seeking clarifications over the crypto company’s tokenized stock offerings after OpenAI warned investors about purchasing tokenized OpenAI stock.

“We have contacted Robinhood and are awaiting clarifications regarding the structure of OpenAI and SpaceX stock tokens as well as the related consumer communication,” Bank of Lithuania spokesman Giedrius Šniukas told CNBC on Monday.

“Only after receiving and evaluating this information will we be able to assess the legality and compliance of these specific instruments. The information for investors must be provided in clear, fair, and non-misleading language,” the spokesman added.

• Trump administration trade advisor Peter Navarro said Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) isn’t moving fast enough to relocate iPhone production out of China.

“With all these new advanced manufacturing techniques and the way things are moving with AI and things like that, it’s inconceivable to me that Tim Cook could not produce his iPhones elsewhere around the world and in this country,” Navarro said during a CNBC interview on Monday.

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on Monday said it is appealing a 500 million euro fine imposed by the European Commission over how it operated its App Store in the EU.

“As our appeal will show, the EC is mandating how we run our store and forcing business terms which are confusing for developers and bad for users,” the company said in a statement, according to CNBC. “We implemented this to avoid punitive daily fines and will share the facts with the Court.”

The EC had alleged that the App Store’s restrictions violated the EU’s Digital Markets Act.