US auto sales rate plunges in May after pre-tariff rush fades
June 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. light vehicle sales rate slumped in May by the most in about five years following a rush by auto shoppers during the previous two months to beat anticipated price hikes stoked by President Donald Trump's tariffs on imported automobiles.
Wards Intelligence on Tuesday reported the seasonally adjusted annual rate of light vehicle sales plunged to 15.65 million units last month from a revised 17.25 million in April and 17.83 million in March. May's drop in the SAAR of about 1.6 million was the largest since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Trump warns of 'consequences' for Elon after he 'disrespected the office of president'
President Donald Trump warned that Elon Musk would face 'very serious consequences' if he was to start bankrolling Democratic candidates. Their relationship disintegrated earlier this week as the former allies battled it out on social media after disagreeing on Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill.' Speaking with NBC News' Kristen Welker on Saturday, Trump was asked what he would do if Musk crossed the political aisle and donated to Democrats. 'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that. He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that', he told out the outlet. Musk, who is worth $330 billion, was a major contributor to Trump's presidential campaign - spending at least $250 million in supporting his race for the White House last year. Asked specifically if he thought his relationship with the mega-billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is over, Trump responded: 'I would assume so, yeah.' 'I'm too busy doing other things. I won an election in a landslide. I gave him a lot of breaks, long before this happened,' he said. 'I gave him breaks in my first administration, and saved his life in my first administration, I have no intention of speaking to him', Trump added. Musk already said that he would be cutting back on spending on political campaigns ahead of next year's midterm elections. The president also accused Musk of being 'disrespectful to the office of the president.' 'I think it's a very bad thing, because he's very disrespectful,' Trump said. 'You could not disrespect the office of the president.' During their spat, Musk even suggested in a since-deleted post that Trump had been named in the government files involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Responding to that remark, Trump said: 'That's called "old news," that's been old news, that has been talked about for years. 'Even Epstein's lawyer said I had nothing to do with it. It's old news.' The two dialed back their barbs at each other by Friday night, with both saying that they wished each other well. But by that point, the damage to their relationship looked to be done. Following the outbreak of their feud, Trump and his allies have said Musk turned on the bill because it cuts subsidies for electric vehicles. Musk has said he doesn't need them anyway. The bill is estimated to add another $3.8 trillion to the national debt, which currently stands at a whopping $36 trillion. Musk went public with his criticism in a series of posts on X, arguing that the spending would wipe out the efforts of his DOGE team. Then, on Thursday, when Trump was supposed to be hosting the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, he was asked about Musk's recent criticism. From there the dam broke. 'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will any more, I was surprised,' Trump told reporters. The president suggested that Musk was angry - not over the bill ballooning the deficit - but because the Trump administration has pulled back on electric vehicle mandates, which negatively impacted Tesla, and replaced a Musk-approved nominee to lead NASA, which could hinder SpaceX's government contracts. 'And you know, Elon's upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles, and they're having a hard time the electric vehicles and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy,' Trump said. 'I know that disturbed him.' Over the weekend, Trump pulled the nomination of Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. Isaacman worked alongside Musk at SpaceX. Reports have since emerged that the nomination of Isaacman being rescinded was in part because of the interference of Sergio Gor, the director of the Presidential Personnel Office. The New York Times had first reported that both Musk and some of those inside the White House had pinned the blame for the dust-up on Gor. Musk and Gor have had a sour relationship for months, stemming from what Axios described as Gor's 'resentment' of Musk's involvement in personnel issues. The Washington Post also reported that Gor had made it clear that he would find a way to get back at Musk, which turned out to be Isaacman's nomination. Trump had said he rescinded the nomination due to donations he had made to the Democrats over the years. Vice President JD Vance said in an interview tried to downplay the feud. He said Musk was making a 'huge mistake' going after Trump, but called him an 'emotional guy' getting frustrated. 'I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that´s not possible now because he´s gone so nuclear,' Vance said. Vance said that Musk´s DOGE, which sought to cut government spending and laid off thousands of workers, was 'really good.' He had made the comments as he spoke with comedian Theo Von, which was taped on Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X. Von showed the veep Musk´s claim that Trump´s administration hasn´t released all the records related to Epstein because Trump is mentioned in them. Vance responded to that, saying, 'Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn´t do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein.' 'This stuff is just not helpful,' Vance said in response to another post shared by Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance. 'It´s totally insane. The president is doing a good job.' Vance also defended the bill that has drawn Musk's ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump's first term.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
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Gory details of Elon Musk's 'rugby tackle' of Scott Bessent spill out as White House leaks escalate
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According to Bannon, Bessent dared to say that the billionaire's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was a failure, since Musk didn't root out the $1 trillion in wasteful and fraudulent federal spending he promised he would. 'Scott said, "You're a fraud. You're a total fraud,"' Bannon said. That's when Musk body-checked Bessent, who hit the world's richest man right back, according to Bannon. Bessent's comment about Musk failing to deliver DOGE cuts at the magnitude he promised got the Tesla CEO to strike Bessent, who hit back, according to Steve Bannon Multiple people stepped in to break up the fight as the two men were getting close to the office of then-National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. Musk was then escorted out of the West Wing. Bannon previously told the Daily Mail that Trump sided with Bessent '100 percent.' Still, Trump wasn't particularly happy that the fight took place, according to Bannon. 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Trump's tariffs will cost UK steel industry £150m
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