Elon Musk contributed to some of his tweets about Donald Trump last week, which was clearly a retreat from an explosive outbreak that could damage the business interests of Tesla bosses.
Musk is by far the biggest donor to Trump’s presidential campaign, but tensions between the two broke out last week and escalated rapidly as the world’s wealthiest people called for the president to improvise and laughed at his connections to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On Wednesday, Musk posted on the social network X he owned: “I’m sorry for some posts about President @realdonaldtrump last week. They’ve gone too far.”
When asked about the obvious apology, the president told the New York Post: “I think it’s so good for him to do it.” The comments were posted after the newspaper published a previously recorded interview, Trump said “I think I can” reconcile with Musk.
The president said when the Tesla CEO launched last week’s long war, he was “not a happy camper”, but claimed he was “not sad about it”, adding: “I think he felt really bad, he said that.”
The possibility of losing contact (whether superficial) seems to be popular with investors. Tesla’s shares rose 2.6% in pre-sale transactions.
Public hatred is one of the most extraordinary changes in the relationship between two men. During the presidential campaign, they claimed to be ideological allies, and Musk served as head of the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” in the Trump administration, which was the driving force behind the internet memes to cut down the government’s plans nicknamed “Doge”. Experts believe that cost reduction is illegal.
But, after Musk publicly criticized Trump’s “Big Beautiful Act”, relations quickly changed, saying it would lend to the U.S. government and calling it “annoying abomination.”
Trump said the tech billionaire was “crazy” and responded to Musk’s criticism. However, the president also directly mentioned Musk’s company, highlighting the potential financial risks of the dispute.
In a direct reference to Tesla, Trump wrote on his own social media network: “I stripped him of his EV mission and forced everyone to buy the electric car that others wanted.” EV pioneers have been declining sales in certain markets, including most of Europe, including most of Europe, because of Musk’s loyalty to Trump.
Musk’s consistency with the US president has prompted Tesla’s market value to surge, and investors hope the White House will benefit the company’s autonomous driving technology. Musk’s retreat from hatred comes the day before Tesla launched the “Robotaxi” service in Austin, Texas. For the company, this launch is to justify its position as the world’s most valuable automaker, even if it struggles with an aging lineup.
Trump also threatened Musk’s other main business, Rockets company Spacex. “The easiest way to save our budget is to terminate Elon’s government subsidies and contracts,” Trump wrote.
In practice, the U.S. government is unlikely to cancel SpaceX’s contract because it is more strategic than the satellite launches combined by all other companies in the world. Musk initially threatened to retire SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, a key tool to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station and then withdraw the threat.
