Donald Trump says he is disappointed in Elon Musk. The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla was a close partner of the American government until the end of May. The relationship was strained when Musk criticized Trump’s economic plan this week.
According to Musk, Trump’s so-called big beautiful bill undoes the work of the American Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Through DOGE, Musk significantly cut the American civil service in recent months to save costs.
Trump’s economic plan is expected to further increase the national debt. Much to the displeasure of Musk, who called the big beautiful bill a “monstrosity” on X. He resigned from DOGE at the end of last month.
The American president claimed on Thursday at a press conference in the presence of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that Musk knew everything about the plans. The Tesla CEO contradicts this on X. He accuses Trump of lying and says he has never seen the big beautiful bill.
According to Trump, Musk is angry because the tax benefits for electric cars are being abolished. “I don’t know if we will have a good relationship anymore,” the president said. Musk has always said that Tesla can take a beating. He also said on Thursday that the elimination of EV benefits could remain part of the plan as far as he is concerned.
The billionaire has received a lot of criticism in recent months for his support of Trump. On X, Musk states that Trump would never have won the election without his help. He calls the president “ungrateful”.
There was also criticism of the way DOGE worked. According to experts, this led to chaos, as you can read in this article. Finally, Musk’s public appearance also had an impact on Tesla’s sales. These have fallen sharply this year, especially in Europe.