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Here’s where things stand on Friday 6 June 2025:
- Tensions between US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk have reached breaking point, and the bromance is over between the world’s most powerful leader and richest man
- For more than a week, Musk has been trashing Trump’s signature piece of legislation – a spending bill – actively lobbying against it
- On Thursday, while meeting the German leader in the Oval Office, Trump spoke candidly about his disappointment with Musk
- In response, Musk launched a series of extraordinary attacks on X, suggesting without evidence that Trump appears in unreleased files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
- Trump shot back several times, saying that Musk “went CRAZY” and was asked to leave the administration. He also threatened to cut government contracts with Musk’s companies
- Amid the fighting, Tesla’s stock price dropped a significant 14%, lowering Musk’s EV giant below the $1 trillion threshold
- But Musk has walked back from an earlier threat to decommission a crucial SpaceX spacecraft used by US astronauts
- The public feud comes after Musk last week officially left his government post, where he was tasked with rooting out excessive spending through Doge
Musk likes having the last word, says biography author
We’ve been hearing from author Ashlee Vance this morning. He wrote the 2015 biography Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future and has been familiar with the tech billionaire for a decade.
“When I got to know him he was much shier, he grew up as a loner and an outcast. It is only as his businesses have done well and his celebrity has grown that he’s evolved into this role,” Vance tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He adds that when speaking to Musk in person he is not the “caricature you see on X taking shots at people and making sometimes bad jokes”.
On the public spat between Trump and Musk, Vance says: “This is looking pretty bad from where I sit, it’s hard to see who will take the higher ground and give in.
“Elon likes to have the last word and I think Trump is the same way.”
Vance adds that there will need to be some “pretty big concessions” in order for the pair to repair their relationship.
He adds: “On the other hand, this was a relationship formed on both sides wanting to get something out of each other, so maybe if there is enough to gain there is some kind of peace that can be reached.”
Trump backer urges pair to ‘make peace’
Amid last nights back and forth, there was an indication in one of Elon Musk’s X posts that he believed there was a need to patch things up.
It came in a reply to a post by Bill Ackman, who made headlines earlier this year when he became one of the most prominent Trump-backers to criticise his tariff policy.
The billionaire hedge fund manager said Trump and Musk “should make peace” and wrote: “We are much stronger together than apart.”
Musk replied: “You’re not wrong.”
Musk could exact high political price for Trump
What happens when the richest person and the most powerful politician have a knock-down, drag-out fight?
The world is finding out – and it’s not a pretty picture.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have two of the biggest megaphones, and they have now turned them on each other, as a disagreement has ballooned into a war of words.
Trump has threatened Musk’s voluminous business dealings with the federal government, which form the lifeblood of his SpaceX programme.
If he turns the machinery of government against Musk, the tech billionaire will feel pain. Tesla’s stock price plunged by 14% on Thursday.
It’s not a one-way street, however. After that volley, Musk called for Trump’s impeachment and dared him to cut funding for his companies.
Musk has near limitless resources to respond, including by funding insurgent challengers to Republicans in next year’s elections and primaries.
He may not win a fight against the whole of Trump’s government, but he could exact a high political – and personal – price for Trump and the Republicans.
‘I’m proud to stand beside Trump’ – Vance
Following the public spat between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, US Vice-President JD Vance says he is “proud to stand beside” the president.
In a post on X that came as Musk and Trump traded blows on the same platform, Vance says: “President Trump has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads.
“I’m proud to stand beside him.”
How the Trump-Musk spat unfolded
Tensions between Donald Trump and Elon Musk peaked on Thursday as the two traded insults on the social media sites they each own.
Around 17:00 BST – During an Oval Office meeting, Trump said he was “disappointed” with criticism from Elon Musk, aimed at his administration’s tax and spending bill.
“Elon and I had a great relationship, I don’t know if we will anymore,” he said.
17:46 BST – In response, Musk doubled down on X, accusing the president of “such ingratitude”. “Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” he said.
19:37 BST – Trump then took to Truth Social, writing: “Elon was wearing thin, I asked him to leave, I took away his [electric vehicle] mandate that forced everyone to buy electric cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!”
He added that the “easiest way to save money” in his signature tax bill is to “terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts”.
19:49 BST – Musk responded to Trump’s threat to terminate government contracts for his companies by saying: “Go ahead, make my day…”
20:10 BST – He then suggested, without evidence, in a new post on X that Trump appears in unreleased files held by the government related to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump to call Musk following heated public spat – report
Welcome back to our coverage of the very public feud between US President Donald Trump and his former adviser, Elon Musk.
The two billionaires traded barbs on social media throughout Thursday after Musk criticised one of Trump’s centrepiece tax and spending bill.
Trump said he was “disappointed” with Musk’s criticisms of the “big, beautiful” bill, which was passed by the US House last month and is awaiting a vote in the Senate. Musk then accused Trump of “ingratitude”.
The row comes merely a week after the tech mogul’s amicable farewell at the Oval Office, where the president presented him with a golden key.
After hours of sparring on Thursday, Trump appeared to downplay the situation. “Oh it’s okay,” he told news site Politico. “It’s going very well, never done better.”
The outlet also reports that the president’s aides have scheduled a phone call with Musk for later today.
Stick with us and we’ll bring you the latest news, analysis and reaction as it happens.
Trump and Musk trade blows as relationship implodes
One of Washington’s most significant alliances – between US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man – has broken up in a very public spat.
In no equivocal terms, Trump told the media that he was “very disappointed” in the man whom he once authorised to slash federal funding.
They have now turned on each other, as a disagreement has ballooned into a war of words, writes our North America Correspondent Anthony Zurcher.
And that comes with serious policy and business implications: Musk initially threatened to decommission a crucial spacecraft owned by his SpaceX company, only to walk back from it hours later. Meanwhile, his other company, Tesla, saw share prices drop by 14%.
Trump and Elon: a relationship in pictures
From friendship to feud: Let’s take a look back at some of the most important moments in the relationship between the two men making the news today.
The breakup of Trump’s alliance with Musk – in a quick glance
It’s just past 6am BST. For those of you just joining us, here is what has been unfolding in Washington:
- Tensions between US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk have quickly flared up, with the two public figures trading insults on social media
- Speaking in the White House, the US president said he was “very surprised” and “disappointed” with Musk’s criticism about his tax and spending bill
- Musk hit back with a series of posts on his social media platform, X – he even suggested Trump should be impeached, external
- The president fired back, threatening to cut government contracts with Musk’s companies
- Shares of Tesla took a huge hit on this news, dropping more than 14% in US trading
- Several hours later, Musk withdrew his threat to decommission a crucial SpaceX spacecraft that is used by US astronauts
Trump and Musk: A powerful but unlikely alliance
Elon Musk and Donald Trump had forged a powerful but unlikely alliance, culminating in the tech billionaire holding a key position of budget-slashing authority in the Trump administration.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, became one of the biggest stories of Trump’s first 100 days, as it shuttered entire agencies and sacked thousands of government workers.
It wasn’t long, however, before speculation began over when – and how – the two outsized personalities would ultimately fall out.
For a while, it seemed like those predictions were off the mark. Trump stood by Musk even as the latter’s popularity dropped, feuded with administration officials and became a liability in several key elections earlier this year.
Every time it appeared there would be a break, Musk would pop up in the Oval Office, or the Cabinet room, or on the president’s Air Force One flight to Mar-a-Lago.
When Musk’s 130 days as a “special government employee” ended last week, the two had a chummy Oval Office send-off, with hints that Musk might someday return.
It’s safe to say that any invitation has been rescinded.
“Elon and I had a great relationship,” Trump said on Thursday – a comment notable for its use of the past tense.
One winner of the row is X
Whatever you think about the feud that’s broken out between Trump and Musk, one winner has been engagement on the Tesla tycoon’s social media platform X.
Musk quote posted a meme alluding to it boosting X active user numbers with laughing and bullseye emojis.
And the multibillionaire is doing his bit to boost traffic as he posts multiple times about the row.
In one reply, he responded to a post by far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, external saying: “Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years …”
On the other hand, Musk has also signalled that he may be ready to bury the hatchet with Trump.
In response to a post by billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, external calling for them to “make peace”, Musk wrote: “You’re not wrong”.
‘Two egos going at it’ – Americans react to Trump-Musk feud
Americans have been reacting to the souring relationship between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Musk’s Epstein claims are nothing new – source
Earlier today, Musk suggested without evidence on X that Trump had appeared in unreleased files held by the government related to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In response, a source familiar with the matter has dismissed Musk’s allegations about Trump and Epstein as nothing new, as the administration already released the Epstein files with Trump’s name included.
The source has also questioned why Musk had aligned himself so closely with the US president if he truly believed that he was deeply involved with Epstein.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking and died by suicide while awaiting trial. Trump was president at the time and said he “knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him” but had a “falling out with him a long time ago”.
Musk’s China footprint has long caused headaches in Washington
As we have reported, Musk’s businesses have faced challenges in China over recent months.
But Musk’s deep footprint in China has caused anxiety in Washington for much longer, including among those who are now top officials in the Trump administration.
Senior Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, held meetings with Musk over his years as Tesla’s chief executive.
Tesla’s electric car factory near Shanghai is its biggest outside the US, and has generated billions in revenue for the company in recent years.
All that – as well as Musk repeating Beijing’s position on sensitive issues like Taiwan – prompted concerns in the US around conflict of interest.
In 2022, Marco Rubio, now US Secretary of State, said Tesla was “helping the Chinese Communist Party cover up genocide” in Xinjiang, after reports emerged the company had opened a new dealership in the region facing allegations of widespread human rights abuses.
The New York Times reported last year that the US Air Force had denied Musk high-level security access.
Musk has changed his mind and won’t decommission a crucial spacecraft, after all
Elon Musk has just contradicted an earlier post about decommissioning a crucial spacecraft owned by his company, SpaceX.
Musk has now said that he “won’t decommission” the Dragon spacecraft, used by NASA to transport astronauts to the International Space Station.
Musk made the comment on his social media account on X, sent to his 220 million followers, in a reply to an account with just over 250 followers.
Let’s take a look at the Asian markets
Markets are open in Asia and a number of the big Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers have opened lower.
Shares in the world’s biggest EV marker, BYD, dropped at the open in Hong Kong and are currently trading almost 2% down.
Elsewhere and big names like Nio and Li Auto are all seeing a drop in their share price.
Earlier, Tesla’s shares plunged following the escalating row between chief executive Elon Musk and Donald Trump, the US president. They closed down over 14% in US trading.
Elsewhere and markets in Asia are broadly higher following the phone call between Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Benchmark indices in Australia and Japan are higher – although Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is slightly down.
In case you missed it: Trump and Xi speak over the phone
Given the huge amount of focus on Musk and Trump, you may have missed the news that the US president held a phone call with his Chinese counterpart on Thursday.
Trump said he had a “very good talk” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and now plans to visit China, adding that he had reciprocated with an invite to Xi for a White House visit.
The phone call was the first between the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies since Trump launched a trade war with Beijing in February.
Ahead of the call, both sides had accused each other of breaching a trade agreement that was arranged in Geneva just a few weeks ago.
You can read more about their phone call here.
Musk under pressure in China as electric car rivals flourish
Let’s take a look at Elon Musk’s headaches on the other side of the world – China.
This spat with Donald Trump comes at a challenging time for the Tesla chief executive, as his company is struggling in China, the world’s biggest electric vehicle market.
Tesla sales in China have declined for the eighth straight month. Sales of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles were down 15% in May from a year ago, according to the latest data from the China Passenger Car Association.
Chinese rival BYD also reported annual revenue for 2024 that leapfrogged Tesla.
How much are Musk’s government contracts worth?
A lot is at risk for Elon Musk if Donald Trump decides, in his words, to “terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts”.
Of Musk’s two major companies, SpaceX and Tesla, the former receives the vast majority of direct government grants.
Just a moment ago, long-time Trump ally Steve Bannon called on the White House to “seize SpaceX tonight”. Musk, for his part, announced he would “begin decommissioning” SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which NASA has used to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Many of SpaceX’s contracts are for classified projects, so it is difficult to determine the exact total value. But it is estimated to be in the tens of billions.
In the 2024 fiscal year alone, SpaceX received $3.8bn (£2.8bn), according to government records.
Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO of SpaceX, has said the company has about $22bn (£16bn) in government contracts, as the BBC has previously reported. At least $15bn (£11bn) of that is derived from NASA, according to the Reuters news agency.
One of the largest SpaceX agreements with the US Department of Defense is a $733m (£540m) National Security Space Launch contract, to help launch satellites into orbit.
The Washington Post has reported that Musk’s ventures have received at least $38bn (£28bn) in contracts, loans and subsidies over many years.
Trump should ‘seize SpaceX tonight’, Steve Bannon says
Steve Bannon, a long-time ally of Donald Trump, has said the US president should “seize SpaceX tonight, before midnight”.
SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, receives billions of dollars in US government contracts, including funding for multiple projects with NASA.
“He’s a know-it-all. He knows some engineering, don’t get me wrong,” Bannon said on his own podcast, War Room, referring to Musk. “But he doesn’t know anything about the real world.”
Bannon’s comments come as Trump and Musk traded threats over cutting government contracts to Musk’s businesses.
Trump-Elon feud happening across two different social media platforms
It has long intrigued me that President Donald Trump never fully re-embraced X, formerly Twitter, despite Elon Musk inviting him back onto his platform.
Recall that during the first Trump administration, Twitter was Trump’s favourite megaphone.
When the company (pre-Musk) removed him from the platform following the 6 January Capitol attacks, Trump started his own: Truth Social.
And today, years later, that’s the platform Trump is using, external to fire off his threats against Elon Musk.
Perhaps it was the possibility of a moment just like this one that kept Trump away.
“It’s about control,” said Noah Smith, writer of the Noahpinion Substack, who spoke with me by phone after the spat erupted.
“Trump realized that if he was dependent on Elon’s platform, Elon could have that to hold over him, and then have power over him.”
Trump has an intimate understanding of how power works after years of dealings in New York real estate and finance, Smith notes.
After purchasing the platform in 2022 and taking it private, Musk arranged for his artificial intelligence startup xAI to purchase X earlier this year.
White House says Musk’s allegations about Epstein are ‘unfortunate’
The White House has responded Musk’s allegation that Trump appears in unreleased files held by the government related to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Musk provided no evidence for the claim.
“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”
This could be a bumpy ride – hold tight
The disintegration of the relationship between Donald Trump and Elon Musk – that most people predicted – is now a reality.
Exactly a week ago, the two of them were side by side in the Oval Office in a show of unity at the end of Musk’s stint as a special government employee – a full-blown political love-in if ever I saw one.
But that apparent harmony lasted about 48 hours. Over the weekend, Musk launched a blistering attack on Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful” spending bill, calling it an “abomination”.
Today we saw the president responding in person for the first time. Speaking here at the White House, he said he was “very disappointed” in Musk.
Trump claimed that once people leave his orbit, they often turn hostile and fall victim to “Trump derangement syndrome”.
Now, Musk has completely unloaded on the president on X – his own platform, accusing Trump of ingratitude and claiming the president wouldn’t have won the election without his support; pinning all this to the top of his timeline – and dredging up lots of Trump quotes to reinforce his point.
So, now we have the richest man in the world at war with the most powerful man in the world – hold tight.
FBI has ‘no comment’ on Musk’s ‘Epstein files’ allegation
Earlier today, we reached out to the FBI for a comment on Musk’s allegation that Trump appears in unreleased files held by the government related to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
For context, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the US’s national investigative agency, which has handled information related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“The FBI does not have a comment on the matter,” it replied.
How the feud between world’s richest man and most powerful politician unfolds
If you’re just joining us, the world’s richest person and the most powerful politician are at loggerheads.
Just last week, tech billionaire Elon Musk got a warm send-off from US President Donald Trump as he stepped down from his role as a special employee for the US government.
But today, after the president said he was “disappointed” and “surprised” by Musk’s criticism of his tax and spending bill, Musk didn’t let it slide.
He took to X, calling the bill a “big, ugly spending bill,” and started a poll asking if it’s time to create a new political party “that actually represents the 80% in the middle.”
He’s pinned the poll to the top of his X account. At the time of writing, over 2.1 million have voted, with 81.9% saying “Yes”.
Trump responded, threatening to cancel Musk’s government contracts, saying Elon Musk “went CRAZY”.
Since then, Musk’s said Trump’s tariffs will cause a recession, and escalated things with an unverified claim about Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump’s latest: “I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago.”
Stay with us as this online feud, which could spill into real life, rumbles on.
The spat may help Tesla brand – but what about Musk’s image?
Elon Musk’s foray into right-wing politics cost Tesla dearly at the start of the Trump administration.
Protests, dubbed #TeslaTakedown, have played out across the country most weekends since Trump took office, and Tesla sales have plunged.
“He should not be deciding the fate of our democracy by disassembling our government piece by piece. It’s not right,” protestor Linda Koistinen told me at a demonstration outside a Berkeley, California Tesla dealership in February.
Koistinen said she wanted to make a “visible stand” against Musk personally.
Now, Musk’s stunning spat with Trump may actually help the Tesla brand, according to Patrick Moorhead, chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
“We’re a very forgiving country,” Moorhead says in a telephone interview.
“These things take time,” he acknowledges, but “it’s not unprecedented”.
Earlier this week, in an interview, veteran tech reporter and analyst Kara Swisher likened Musk’s personal brand to that of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
She said Gates was once regarded as “the Darth Vader of Silicon Valley” because of his “arrogant and rude” personality.
Today, despite his flaws, Gates has largely rehabilitated his image.
“He learned. He grew up. People can change,” Swisher told me, even as she acknowledged that Musk is “clearly troubled.”
Whether that will draw prospective Tesla buyers back to the brand is another story.
Nasa responds to Musk’s threat
In the past hour or so, we’ve heard from Musk, who has threatened to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
The Dragon 1 and Dragon 2 versions are used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station and are essential for Nasa’s operations.
“NASA will continue to execute upon the president’s vision for the future of space,” a spokesperson tells the BBC. “We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the president’s objectives in space are met.”
Where does Trump-Musk row go next?
There had been some thought that Trump’s surprise announcement last night of a new travel ban, additional sanctions on sanctions on Harvard and a conspiracy-laced administration investigation of former President Joe Biden were all efforts to change the subject from Musk’s criticism.
The White House and its allies in Congress seemed careful not to further antagonise him after his earlier comments.
Then Trump spoke out – and… so much for that.
Now the question is where the dispute goes next.
Parliamentary Republicans could find it harder to keep their members behind Trump’s bill with Musk providing rhetorical – and, perhaps financial – air for those who break ranks.
Trump, who takes pride in being a devastating counterpuncher, will have plenty of opportunity to lay into Musk.
What will happen to Musk’s Doge allies still in the Trump administration or government contracts to Musk-related companies or Biden-era investigations into Musk’s business dealings?
“The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts,” Trump posted menacingly on his own social media website.
If Trump turns the machinery of government against Musk, the tech billionaire will feel pain. Tesla’s share price was down 14% on Thursday.
But Musk also has near limitless resources to respond – including by funding insurgent challengers to Republicans in next year’s elections and primaries.
He may not win a fight against the whole of Trump’s government, but he could exact a high political price.
Possible real world consequences of this Trump-Musk spat
The public feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk is just getting started, but it could have real consequences in the US.
After Trump threatened to cut government contracts, Musk has already said he might decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. That craft was designed with $396m (£292m) from Nasa.
The Dragon 1 and Dragon 2 versions of the vehicle have been used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. If Musk goes ahead, it’s not clear when it would happen, but it would seriously affect Nasa’s ability to operate in space.
This exchange of threats also shows how much the US government depends on Musk’s firms. SpaceX and Starlink both have hefty contracts with the Department of Defense, and some projects are classified. Musk himself has a security clearance, which has sparked controversy.
It’s also unclear if Musk’s very vocal opposition to the “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill will be enough to sway any lawmakers. This could potentially derail a piece of legislation that Trump has pushed hard for, and which has become one of the signature policies of his new administration.
Another possibility is that people in Trump’s orbit, including politicians on Capitol Hill, rally around the president and criticise Musk, even if many of them were previously very supportive of the tech tycoon.
Where this all ends is anyone’s guess.
Musk says Trump’s tariffs will cause recession
In his latest burst of tweets, Elon Musk has shared a post saying President Trump should be impeached and replaced by Vice-President JD Vance.
And just moments ago, Musk said Trump’s global tariffs will “cause a recession in the second half of this year”.
- If you’d like a reminder of what tariffs Trump has announced and why, we’ve got it here
Frightening, fascinating and shocking drama
So often politics struggles to break through, showbiz for ugly people someone once called it.
But these past three hours between the world’s richest billionaire and the world’s most powerful man have been pure box office.
Like the best dramas, it’s frightening, fascinating, and shocking, all at once.
Frightening because one of them has multinational, multibillion-dollar companies to run – the other has a global superpower to steer through a chaotic and dangerous world.
It’s fascinating because you can’t take your eyes off them lobbing metaphorical rocks at one another; indulging in plain name-calling – and trading threats.
And it’s shocking because these two both wield real power in their own way – and frankly you just don’t know what they might do next.
To steal the president’s surprising metaphor from earlier today when he described the Ukraine-Russia war in terms of two kids fighting in the playground – you can’t help seeing this unfolding drama in those exact same terms.
Democrats stand back in Trump-Musk spat
Democrats are on the sidelines, wondering how to respond.
Few seem willing to welcome Musk, a former donor to their party, back into the fold. But there is also the old adage that the enemy of an enemy is a friend.
“It’s a zero-sum game,” Liam Kerr, a Democratic strategist, tells Politico. “Anything that he does that moves more toward Democrats hurts Republicans.”
At the very least, Democrats seem happy to stand back and let the two men exchange blows. And until they abandon this fight, the din is likely to drown out everything else in American politics.
But do not expect this spat to end any time soon.
“Trump has 3.5 years left as president,” Musk wrote on X, “but I will be around for 40+ years…”
Trump doesn’t mention Musk
A police appreciation event at the White House has ended without Trump mentioning Musk, and the president did not take any questions from gathered reporters.
Tesla stocks plunge as Trump and Musk trade barbs
With US markets closed, Tesla’s stock price dropped 14% today in what Reuters described as “heavy trading” fuelled by the very public fight.
The price had already been edging down in the first week of June, after improving in May when Musk made it clear he would give the EV maker more of his time and attention.
Today’s eruption of bad feeling between Musk and Trump, though, seemed to push it over the edge.
Tesla has lost its $1trn (£740bn) valuation and is currently worth $916bn, according to CNBC.
Still the stock price at $278.40 per share is significantly higher than a year ago, when it was $178.
Musk’s divided attention adds doubt to Austin robotaxis project
Elon Musk’s airing of his dirty White House laundry is raising the possibility that his return to Tesla and other business interests might not be quite the salve investors had hoped for.
Tesla shares have been in freefall today as he’s been sounding off about President Donald Trump on social media.
I’ve been reporting this week on Musk’s next steps. Most agree that Tesla’s future in particular depends on how well he delivers on autonomous technology.
The expectation had been that he would turn his full attention to plans to launch robotaxis in Austin, Texas this month.
He posted to X last week that the electric vehicle maker had been testing the Model Y with no drivers on board.
“I believe 90% of the future value of Tesla is going to be autonomous and robotics,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told me, adding that the Austin launch would be “a watershed moment”.
But with Musk’s attention divided, the project’s odds of success are cast into doubt in Tesla’s chosen hometown of Austin, where rivals like Waymo and Zoom are already up and running.
Trump speaking at the White House
We are watching the White House now where Trump is speaking to the Fraternal Order of Police, a union that represents police officers across the US.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is also in attendance.
We are following along, and will bring you any updates if the president says anything about Musk.
‘Go ahead,’ Musk says as Trump threatens to cancel government contracts
As we’ve reported earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social: “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
Over the years, Musk and his companies have received at least $38 billion (£28bn) in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits, according to analysis by the Washington Post.
Musk replied to a different tweet, which shared a screenshot of Trump’s message: “Go ahead, make my day…”
In another tweet, where Musk copied Trump’s post, he says: “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately”.
Dragon is the spacecraft that’s been taking Nasa astronauts to space.
Musk escalates feud further with Epstein mention
Musk has escalated this feud even further, suggesting without evidence in a new post on X that Trump appears in unreleased files held by the government related to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Last year, court documents released by a judge named numerous public figures connected to Epstein. Trump was named in one document. Being named in the documents does not carry any inference of wrongdoing, and there were no allegations made against Trump.
While running for the White House, Trump had promised to release more files on Epstein. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi released a tranche of newly declassified files but they again contained no major new allegations about Epstein nor revelations about his associates.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking and died by suicide while awaiting trial. Trump was president at the time. He said he “knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him” but had a “falling out with him a long time ago”.
Tesla shares fall more than 15%
The hit to Tesla shares is accelerating as the sniping continues.
Just recently shares were down more than 15%, which if it were to hold when trading officially closes in 20 minutes would mark the steepest one-day decline since 2020.
Investors in the company are watching in horror.
“Can someone please take the phone away from him!” Ross Gerber, co-founder of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, writes on social media, external. “Tesla is getting destroyed.”
Gerber was one of Musk’s early backers, but his firm sold off about 10% of its holdings in Tesla earlier this year, according to Business Insider.
He has been vocal about the damage Musk’s politics have done to the car company’s brand.
‘Musk played a pivotal role’ in Trump’s election – Georgia voter
Steve Brown, a freelancer and podcaster in the swing state of Georgia, says “Elon Musk played a pivotal role in President Trump being elected.”
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. He was a very popular figure, charismatic, and he had the money to, to help,” says Brown, who is a member of the Fayette County Republican Party.
Brown thinks Musk’s lack of political experience led to his exit from the White House.
“I think he came in with all the best of intentions. I think he was truly sincere with what he wanted to accomplish. And I don’t think Musk understood how Congress works, and that was the deathblow to his efforts.
He adds: “I don’t think it [Musk’s appointment] backfired. Although he was so high-energy going in, and now he looks like a defeated man coming out. I don’t think he understands how Congress works and how convoluted that system is and how difficult it is to get a budget through Congress.”
Trump and Musk’s spat extends to outer space
One point of contention in the breakdown of Trump and Musk’s relationship centres on the next administrator of US space agency Nasa.
Musk recommended his long-time friend Jared Isaacman, who Trump nominated even before he took office. Musk has long had a goal of space travel to Mars, which he pursues through his Space X company – it has several contracts with Nasa.
But Isaacman’s confirmation ran into issues after it was revealed that he had previously donated to several Democratic campaigns over 15 years.
Some of these donations happened as recently as 2024, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign donations. Their records show that Isaacman also donated to at least one Republican candidate in Pennsylvania years ago.
“After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,” Trump wrote on Truth Social 31 May.
At the White House today, Trump said withdrawing Isaacman’s nomination had upset Musk.
“Look, we won, we get certain privileges and one of the privileges is we don’t have to appoint a Democrat,” Trump said.
Musk targets Republican Congressional leaders
Elon Musk has now started singling out House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate majority leader John Thune in a series of posts on X.
He seems to be digging deep into the archive, unearthing a post written by Johnson in March 2023, in which he criticised the Biden administration, saying federal spending and debt “is not sustainable!”
Reacting to the post, external, Musk writes: “Where is the Mike Johnson of 2023!?”, appearing to want to point out the contrast with Johnson’s position now in support of Trump’s spending bill – which is at the root of Musk and Trump’s fall out.
He also targets Thune, external, linking to an opinion piece written by the Senate leader in 2011, titled “Balanced-budget amendment or bust”.
He separately reposts a video of Thune speaking in 2020 in Congress, which was posted by news outlet The Hill, with the caption: “Where is the John Thune of 2020??”
Musk appears to be digging out some receipts.
An abrupt end to the Musk-Trump ‘bromance’ – or not?
For the last six months at the White House, I’ve been a first-hand witness to what many in Washington’s gossipy political circles termed the “bromance” between Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
For me, the most memorable moments have perhaps been Musk’s presence in the cabinet meetings. At one meeting, for which I was in the Cabinet Room, Musk was sitting comfortably at the head of a very long table – with a Maga hat on – alongside all the formal members of the Trump cabinet.
At another, later cabinet meeting, Trump invited cabinet members to voice any displeasure they might have had with Musk amid growing speculation that some were tiring of his cost-cutting at their agencies. Nobody spoke up.
And just last week, I watched as Trump threw Musk a warm farewell in the Oval Office, promising that Musk would “be with us, always, even if he was no longer working in the administration”.
All that is over – and their relationship has rapidly devolved into a very public spat as the two men trade barbs less than a week after that farewell.
“Elon and I had a great relationship,” Trump said during his Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “I don’t know if we will anymore.”
It got worse from there, with Trump threatening to cut Musk’s government contracts, that “nobody wanted” his Teslas, and he “just went CRAZY”.
Many saw it coming. At the outset of the administration, American TV pundits opined that the White House would not be big enough for the two men, and that inevitably they would fall out.
It appears that they were right.
Musk: ‘Trump has 3.5 years left as president’
Musk is continuing to fire off inflammatory posts on his social media account.
He suggests his influence will last longer than Trump’s in a response to conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer – who has asked what Republican lawmakers might do now, following this feud.
“Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as president, but I will be around for 40+ years…” Musk responds.
From first buddies to first foes?
From first buddies to now enemies?
The Trump-Musk alliance has been fracturing at a rapid pace in public ever since the tech billionaire left his temporary government post last week.
At first it seemed to have ended all very nicely with a special goodbye in the oval office – Musk even got a golden key.
He later said he felt he couldn’t criticise the administration, but now he’s been firing shots left, right and centre – laying into Trump’s tax policy bill and urging lawmakers to ‘kill the bill.’
Trump said he was disappointed, to which Musk has hit back hard in a way it’s really going to hurt – suggesting his big donation won Trump the election.
Trump’s administration has often been compared to Julius Caesar – the Roman emperor with unrestrained power and excess.
Put the world’s most powerful man and the world’s richest man together – perhaps they were always destined to collide. After all there can’t be two Caesars at the same time.
Trump threatens to terminate Musk’s government contracts
After a flurry of posts from Elon Musk, US President Donald Trump has now taken to social media as well.
He wrote two posts on his own platform, Truth Social:
“Elon was wearing thin, I asked him to leave, I took away his EV mandate that forced everyone to buy electric cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump writes.
He then says that the “easiest way to save money” in his signature tax bill is to “terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts”.
Where is this guy today?: Musk reposts Trump’s old tweets
It seems Elon Musk has been trawling through President Trump’s old tweets.
He found one Trump wrote back in 2012, in which the president says that no member of Congress should be eligible for re-election if the budget isn’t balanced – Musk now reposts that with a simple “100%” emoji.
“Wise words,” is his comment on another, in which a 2013 Trump bemoans Republicans extending the debt ceiling.
The tech billionaire has also retweeted another user’s compilation of similar political posts of Trump’s from more than a decade ago, to which Musk says: Where is this guy today??
Trump and Musk’s most memorable White House moments
As Trump and Musk’s relationship takes a turn, let’s take a look back at some of their most memorable moments.
They include the tech billionaire wielding a chainsaw at a conservative conference alongside Argentinian President Javier Milei; bringing his four-year-old son to meetings at the White House; and Trump picking out which Tesla to buy on the White House’s lawn.
Musk posts poll: Is it time to create a new political party?
Elon Musk has posted another tweet.
“Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?” he writes, letting people vote.
After just over 23 minutes, about 260,000 people have already voted, with 84% saying “yes”.
Tesla shares sink on feud fall-out
Tesla shares are sinking as the tensions between Trump and chief executive Elon Musk spill out into the open.
They started dropping hard around noon, when Trump lit into his billionaire advisor, and are now trading down roughly 9%.
Investors in the company were already having a hard time this year, with shares down more than 10% since January, as Musk’s alliance with Trump led to backlash against the brand and concerns he was not paying enough attention to the company.
Its business also could be hurt by a proposal to end tax credits for buyers of electric vehicles – a plan tucked into the spending bill that has ripped open the breach between the two men.
It’s a sharp turn from the mood immediately after the election, when shares popped on hopes the friendship would deliver benefits to the company.
Musk’s posts are directly responding to Trump’s Oval Office comments
The first of Musk’s posts targeting President Trump’s tax and spending bill came just as a news conference between Trump and German Chancellor Musk was getting under way. Here’s a taste of what he posted:
- He reposted a tweet that Trump made in 2012, which said: “No member of Congress should be eligible for re-election if our country’s budget is not balanced – deficits not allowed!”
- Musk reposted it with the comment: “I couldn’t agree more!”
- While Trump defended what he calls the ‘big beautiful bill’ with Merz, Musk labelled it a big, ugly spending bill, saying it should be slimmed down: “Slim Beautiful Bill for the win”
- Musk then replies to his own tweet, saying: Keep the good, remove the bad”
- During the Merz meeting, Trump says Musk knew that the administration would take out the Electric Vehicle (EV) mandate of the bill
- Musk replies to this directly, posting: “False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”
How the pair’s disagreements over the bill escalated
The simmering tensions between Musk and Trump began boiling over this week, when Musk hit out at Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” – Trump’s signature tax and spending bill.
On Tuesday, Musk described it as a “disgusting abomination”, in a widening rift between the two.
On Wednesday, the tech billionaire called on Americans to tell their representatives in Washington to “kill the bill”. He wrote on X earlier this week that the bill would add to the US budget deficit and saddle Americans with “crushing” debt.
And on Thursday, Trump cracked. During an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Merz, he said he was “disappointed” in Musk’s criticism of the bill.
“Elon and I had a great relationship, I don’t know if we will anymore,” he told Merz and the press pool.
Meanwhile on X, Musk has been re-earthing and reposting some of Trump’s older tweets from 2012 and 2013, where he criticised Republicans raising the debt ceiling.
One hour ago, Musk claimed that Trump would have lost the election without him.
We’ll be following the fall-out here as it happens, so stay with us.
Trump once sang Musk’s praises, the tune has shifted
Musk is continuing to go after the budget bill and Trump on social media.
The feuding between the pair who at one time were seen as quite close friends has rapidly intensified over the course of the day.
Musk has just posted again on X, the social media platform he owns, somewhat taunting Trump.
“Remember this?” he says while tagging Trump. The post includes an older tweet from when Musk brought Teslas to the White House and Trump sang his praises.
Trump told reporters that day that Musk never complained to him and never asked Trump for a thing.
“He’s built a great company and he shouldn’t be penalised,” Trump said in March. “He’s a patriot. I don’t even know if he’s a Republican.”
A lot has changed since then.
Musk and Trump are sparring over the 2024 election victory
In a flurry of furious posts of social media, Elon Musk has suggested that without him, Donald Trump would not have won the US election last year.
Musk donated about $290 million to Donald Trump’s campaign and other Republican candidates in 2024.
In that election, Republicans won the trifecta: the White House, the US House of Representatives and the US Senate.
Earlier today, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he would have won without the financial cushion from the world’s richest man.
“I think I would have won, Susie [Wiles] would say I would have won Pennsylvania easily anyway,” Trump said referring to his campaign manager and now chief of staff.
Musk’s money paid for thousands of volunteers in key swing states that delivered Trump the presidency. In the electorally significant Pennsylvania, Musk held a lottery during which he gave people $1m (£740,000) a day for signing onto Republican causes. He also appeared alongside Trump at several rallies.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, [Democrats] would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” he says on X. “Such ingratitude.”
What is the bill Musk and Trump are fighting over?
House Republicans narrowly passed a sweeping tax and spending bill and delivered a major victory to President Donald Trump last month.
The bill, which Trump and other Republicans often refer to as the “big beautiful bill”, includes extended tax cuts, added requirements for federal benefits eligibility, and an increase to the national debt ceiling – all major sticking points that were agreed upon by a 215-214 vote in the House in May.
The more than 1,000-page bill now heads to the Senate, which will have the chance to approve or change provisions of the bill before it reaches Trump’s desk.
That’s where it’s hit some sticking points.
Republicans in the Senate want to make changes to the bill and on top of that Musk is not happy.
He wants to reduce the deficit, but the legislation as it currently stands in the House and as it’s being discussed in the Senate would do the opposite.
Trump is not happy with Musk, who is not letting the president off the hook
US President Donald Trump says he was “very surprised” and “disappointed” with former ally Elon Musk’s criticisms of his centrepiece budget bill – we’ll bring you more on this in a moment.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump told reporters in the White House on Thursday.
Now, Musk has aggressively pushed back.
In response, Musk doubled down on X and accused the president of “Such ingratitude”, adding: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election”.
Musk left his post at the Department of Government Efficiency last week after 129 days on the job, and Trump presented him with a with a golden key during a congratulatory news conference on 30 May.
But in the days since, he has repeatedly criticised Trump’s budget bill currently working its way through Congress, calling it a “disgusting abomination” and posting “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong.”
A billionaire and a president get into a public feud
What happens when the richest person and the most powerful politician have a knock-down fight?
The world may be about to find out.
A disagreement between Elon Musk and Donald Trump started at a simmer last week, began bubbling yesterday and is now in full-on boil. And like everything these two men do, it is all spilling out into public view.
In remarks at the Oval Office this afternoon, Trump sounded a bit like a spurned lover. He expressed surprise at Musk’s criticism of his “big, beautiful” tax and spending legislation. He pushed back against the notion that he would have lost last year’s presidential election without Musk’s hundreds of millions of dollars in support. And he said Musk was only changing his tune now because his car company, Tesla, will be hurt by the Republican push to end electric vehicle tax credits.
Musk took to his social media site, X, with a very Generation X response for his 220 million followers: “Whatever”. He said he didn’t care about the car subsidies, he wanted to shrink the budget deficit. He called Trump “ungrateful” for his help last year and that Democrats would have prevailed without him.
These two men have two of the world’s biggest megaphones, and they clearly enjoy using them. Until they abandon this fight, the din is likely to drown out everything else in American politics.
The Trump and Musk friendship appears to be officially over
The world’s richest man and the US president once boasted a close relationship
But it seems, after Trump expressed his disappointment in his recently-departed special advisor, that special relationship is over.
Musk’s hat once read: “Trump was right about everything”. Now, Trump says: “Elon and I had a great relationship, I don’t know if we will anymore”.
We’ll be covering the fall-out here with analysis from our correspondents, so stay with us.