US President Donald Trump is not interested in talking with his former ally Elon Musk, amid a bitter feud over the president’s sweeping tax-cut bill, a White House official said on Friday, adding that no phone call between the two men was planned for the day.
A separate White House official had said earlier that Trump and Musk were going to talk to each other on Friday.
Earlier, Donald Trump threatened to cut off government contracts to Elon Musk’s companies and the world’s richest man suggested the US president should be impeached, marking a stark end to an unlikely alliance and leaving onlookers wondering what was next.
The hostilities between the former allies intensified when the president criticised Tesla CEO Musk in the Oval Office and the pair then lobbed verbal barbs at each other on their social media platforms: Trump’s Truth Social and Musk’s X.
“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.
In pre-market trading on Friday, shares in Musk’s Tesla rose as much as five per cent after the early news that the two men were scheduled to speak.
Tesla had closed down 14pc on Thursday, losing about $150 billion in market value in the largest single-day decline in value in the electric vehicle maker’s history.
The market capitalisation of Tesla Inc has fallen 29.3pc to $917bn so far this year, the biggest drop among big companies in the world.
Minutes after the closing bell, Musk replied, “Yes,” to a post on X saying Trump should be impeached, an unthinkable move in Congress where Trump’s Republicans hold majorities in both chambers.
