Elon Musk signals he may back down in public row with Donald Trump
Elon Musk has suggested he may de-escalate his public row with Donald Trump after their spectacular falling out.
The Tesla chief executive signalled he might back down on a pledge to decommission the Dragon spacecraft – made by his SpaceX business – in an exchange on his X social media platform. He also responded positively to a call from fellow multibillionaire Bill Ackman to 'make peace' with the US president.
Politico also reported overnight that the White House has scheduled a call with Musk on Friday to broker a peace deal after both men traded verbal blows on Thursday.
The rolling spat – which played out over social media and in a Trump White House appearance – included the president saying he was 'very disappointed in Elon' over Musk's criticism of his tax and spending bill. Musk also said the president's trade policies would cause a recession and raised Trump's connections to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Musk had responded to a Trump threat to cancel his US government contracts on Thursday with a post on X stating he would retire his Dragon spacecraft, which is used by Nasa. However, responding to an X user's post urging both sides to 'cool off', Musk wrote: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.'
Musk also appeared to proffer an olive branch in a reply to a post from the hedge fund owner Ackman, who called on Trump and Musk to 'make peace for the benefit of our great country'. Musk replied: 'You're not wrong.'
Politico also reported a potential peace call between Musk and the White House, claiming Trump's aides had worked to persuade the president to tone down his public criticism of the Tesla owner before arranging the phone conversation for Friday.
After a brief interview with Trump about Thursday's Musk implosion, Politico reported that the president displayed 'an air of nonchalance' about the spat. 'Oh it's OK' Trump said, when asked about the dispute. 'It's going very well, never done better.' Referring to his favourability ratings, Trump added: 'The numbers are through the roof, the highest polls I've ever had and I have to go.'
Politico reported that Trump's aides had urged the president to focus on getting his tax and spending bill through the Senate instead of clashing with Musk, with one of his Truth Social posts reflecting a less confrontational tone. 'I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,' he wrote on his Truth Social platform, before adding that the tax cut legislation was one of the 'Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress'.
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