- Elon Musk said the US needs to abandon its political infighting to stay competitive with China.
- There's been "way too much of America punching itself in the damn face," he said on Monday.
- He lauded China's work ethic, and said Tesla's China team works the hardest in the company.
Elon Musk warned that the US needs to stop infighting if it wants to stay on par with China's rising economy, which he said will grow possibly up to three times the size of America's because of its strong work ethic.
"Everything is not some plot by the Chinese government. There's just a tremendous number of hard-working, smart people in China who want to get ahead and get things done," Musk said on Monday via video at the All-In tech conference, hosted by All-In podcast. "And they're not complacent, and they're not entitled."
The US currently leads China when it comes to GDP. The most recent data from the World Bank shows the United States' GDP at $20.95 trillion, compared to China's $14.72 trillion. However, China's GDP growth in the past 30 years has dramatically outpaced the US.
Musk also chastised Americans for fighting among themselves rather than focusing on growing the economy.
"There's way too much of America punching itself in the damn face, which is just dumb," said Musk. "Think about like: Hey, we've got to be competitive here. And there's a new kid on the block that's going to be two or three times our size."
"We better step up our game and, you know, stop infighting," he said.
The billionaire said his electric carmaking company, Tesla, has managed to stay competitive in China because of the firm's Chinese team.
"Tesla is sort of pretty far out there in terms of work ethic anywhere in the world. So the Tesla work ethic in the US is substantially greater than any other car company or any large manufacturing company that I'm aware of," Musk said.
But he added that the work ethic of Tesla's China team "exceeds" that of its US counterpart on average.
During a May 10 interview with the Financial Times, Musk praised China's workforce as "super-talented" and hardworking. "They won't just be burning the midnight oil. They will be burning the 3 a.m. oil," he continued. "They won't even leave the factory type of thing, whereas in America people are trying to avoid going to work at all."
When asked on Monday by a panelist to expand on his point about infighting in the US, Musk urged companies to place less emphasis on political views in the workplace.
"The point of a company is to produce useful products and services for your fellow human beings. It is not some political gathering place," he said, receiving applause from the audience. "Let's not lose sight of why companies should exist."