US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to slash government contracts and subsidies to Elon Musk’s companies, escalating their increasingly personal feud.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump declared on Truth Social. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
The warning came just hours after Trump said he was “very disappointed” by Musk, who has openly attacked the president’s signature tax and spending bill, labelling it bloated and unfair to clean energy industries.
The billionaire didn’t hold back, responding to Trump in real time with a sharp one-word post on X: “Whatever.”
“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!” the president wrote in another post.
But Musk went further, delivering a jab that appeared to hit Trump where it hurts most. “Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk wrote, asserting he had spent at least $250 million supporting Trump’s return to office. In a follow-up, he added: “Such ingratitude.”
Until recently, Musk served as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a short-lived White House role focused on cutting wasteful spending.
While Trump didn’t name specific contracts, Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, rely heavily on federal deals. SpaceX holds billion-dollar agreements with NASA and the Pentagon, while Tesla has received subsidies tied to electric vehicle production.
Musk has criticised the latest spending bill for removing EV tax credits while leaving fossil fuel subsidies untouched, calling it a betrayal of climate innovation.
The feud comes as Republicans attempt to rally support for the controversial “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a sweeping tax and spending package facing criticism from both fiscal conservatives and environmental advocates. Musk, in particular, has become its loudest high-profile critic.
With inputs from AP
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