US President Donald Trump is not interested in talking with Elon Musk, a White House official said on Friday (Jan 6), signaling the president and his former ally might not resolve their feud over a sweeping tax-cut bill any time soon.
The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no phone call between Trump and the Tesla CEO was planned for the day. Earlier, a different White House official had said the two were going to talk.
In interviews with several US media outlets, Trump said he was focused on other matters.
“I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem, the poor guy’s got a problem,” Trump told CNN on Friday morning.
Trump may get rid of the red Tesla Model S that he bought in March after showcasing Musk’s electric cars on the White House lawn, the official said.
Musk, for his part, did not directly address Trump but kept up his criticism of the massive Republican tax and spending bill that contains much of Trump’s domestic agenda.
On his social-media platform X, Musk amplified remarks made by others that Trump’s “big beautiful bill” would hurt Republicans politically and add to the nation’s US$36.2 trillion debt. He replied “exactly” to a post by another X user that said Musk had criticized Congress and Trump had responded by criticizing Musk personally.
People who have spoken to Musk said his anger has begun to recede and they think he will want to repair his relationship with Trump, according to one person who has spoken to Musk’s entourage.
The White House statements came one day after the two men battled openly in an extraordinary display of hostilities that marked a stark end to a close alliance.
Tesla stock rose on Friday, clawing back some losses from Thursday’s session, when it dropped 14 percent and lost US$150 billion in value, the largest single-day decline in the company’s history.
Musk’s high-profile allies have largely stayed silent during the feud. But one, investor James Fishback, called on Musk to apologize.
“President Trump has shown grace and patience at a time when Elon’s behavior is disappointing and frankly downright disturbing,” Fishback said in a statement.
Musk, the world’s richest man, bankrolled a large part of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Trump named Musk to head a controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending.
