The name of the carmaker led by Elon Musk was removed from a list of planned purchases after news outlets raised conflict-of-interest concerns.
The department plans to buy armored Tesla vehicles. Elon Musk, who is leading efforts to cut government spending, has won more than $13 billion in government contracts in the past five years.
The U.S. electric car company’s sales are sliding across Europe, amid what many see as interference in local affairs by Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk.
Mr. Musk dug into his companies’ budgets, preferring to cut too much rather than too little and to deal with the fallout later. Under Donald Trump, he is set to apply those tactics to the U.S. government.