Trump says Musk would be forced to 'head back home to SA' without subsidies
"Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one. Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa," Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump further suggested that ending support for rocket launches, satellites and electric car production would save the United States "a fortune." He further suggested that the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), previously headed by Musk, "take a good, hard, look at this?"
The lower house of the US Congress in May advanced Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," which cuts federal spending but simultaneously provides serious tax breaks. As a result, according to the Congressional Budget Office, both the budget deficit and the national debt will grow.
Musk has repeatedly criticized Trump's bill on social media. He said, in particular, that the bill would drive the US's budget deficit up to $2.5 trillion and push American citizens into debt.
According to analysts, the United States may be on the verge of default by August if Republicans and Democrats in Congress do not agree on raising the debt ceiling. The issue of raising the borrowing limit has often been used in political disputes within Congress between the two US parties in recent years.
UNI SPUTNIK GNK 1305
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
21 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Beyond BRICS and the Quad: Forget the grand Design, focus on the mundane
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on a multi-nation tour across two continents, there is much to do on the bilateral front with all of them. The main destination is Brazil, where the annual BRICS summit is being held. The long journey to South America has also opened doors for bilateral engagements with Argentina and Trinidad and Tobago. En route to and from the region, the PM is stopping over in Ghana and Namibia. But this is no time for expansive ideological ambition. India must focus instead on securing its interests in a turbulent world. Not too long ago, BRICS seemed well-placed to change the world. But the deepening divisions within BRICS — most notably between India and China — highlight the forum's internal contradictions. The refusal of Argentine President Javier Milei to join BRICS further underlines that not all nations see the forum with starry eyes. At a time when US President Donald Trump is upending American foreign policy and the global order, Delhi's priorities must be pragmatic: To consolidate the economic and political opportunities at hand on the external front. That in turn is about pursuing India's foremost task – self-strengthening at home. In an uncertain world, national resilience and state capability are more important than sweeping pronouncements about the world order. Over the last decade of Modi's tenure, two global forums — BRICS and the Quad — have consumed a significant amount of India's diplomatic bandwidth. Both are in focus this week. While the PM prepares for the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is in Washington for the Quad foreign ministers' meeting. That these meetings are taking place in the same week underscores India's much-vaunted 'multi-alignment' strategy. Yet the notion that India can navigate between great power rivalries freely and without cost has come under scrutiny. Modi's first foreign visit as PM was to the BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July 2014. The trip highlighted his enthusiasm for deeper ties with Russia, expanding engagement with China, and even the possibility of a grand bargain with Beijing on resetting bilateral relations. Just weeks later, he travelled to Washington to reboot and elevate ties with the US. India seems poised to improve ties with all the major powers at once. But India's great power relations have not evolved linearly. Modi's optimism about China was quickly tested. Within months of meeting Xi Jinping, he faced a crisis on the disputed China frontier. Two more followed — in 2017 and 2020 — leaving little room for doubt about Beijing's strategic intentions. The widening power asymmetry with China became an inescapable reality and coping with it is a multi-generational task for India. As tensions with China deepened, India's partnership with the US gained momentum. Meanwhile, Russia's drift away from the West — after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2022 — pushed Moscow further into Beijing's embrace, raising questions about its value for India as a regional balancer. In the early 2000s, India sought to hedge against American dominance through BRICS. Delhi is now compelled to hedge against Chinese hegemony in Asia through the Quad. Promoting a 'multipolar Asia' has become as important as seeking a 'multipolar world'. Since reviving the Quad in 2017, Delhi has found the four-nation grouping more consequential to its geopolitical calculus than BRICS. Despite talk of building an 'alternative' global order through BRICS, Indian policymakers are well aware that Moscow and Beijing are open to cutting bilateral deals with Washington. BRICS's limitations were further exposed during the recent Israel-US strikes on Iran. Neither Moscow nor Beijing offered meaningful support to Iran. The gap between the anti-American rhetoric of Russia and China and their self-serving behaviour is increasingly obvious. Moscow appears keen to work with Trump's America to restructure the European security order, while Beijing is pursuing a major trade accord with Washington. India, too, is prioritising substance over symbolism. Despite the popular rhetoric of 'de-dollarisation', much of India's political energy since Trump's return has gone into finalising a bilateral trade deal that now appears imminent. While BRICS looks less impressive today — despite expanded membership and a broader agenda —the Quad is not without its troubles. Trump's 'America First' approach, particularly his demand that allies raise defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP or more, is creating friction with Australia and Japan. Trump's 'trade first' regional strategy is threatening to undermine the historic security compact between the US and its Asian allies. More worrisome for the Quad is Trump's openness to a 'big beautiful deal' with China. Recent meetings in Geneva and London between top US and Chinese officials suggest a major thaw in commercial ties. Reports this week suggested Trump is eager to travel to Beijing later in the year accompanied by a large business delegation. While his administration has many 'China hawks', Trump himself is not one. Given that US engagement in the Indo-Pacific until now has been rooted in the idea of balancing China, America's allies are now questioning whether that remains Washington's guiding principle. The Quad foreign ministers' meeting this week may shed light and hopefully clear some of these growing doubts. India has its own concerns. Trump's surprise overture to Pakistan has caused unease in Delhi. But the answer to India's new irritation with Trump does not lie with BRICS. The deepening strategic alliance between China and Pakistan is even more troubling than Trump's Pakistan policy. Delhi is also watching the emerging trilateral cooperation between Beijing, Dhaka and Islamabad. There is speculation about the creation of a China-led regional grouping, outside the now dysfunctional SAARC. Beijing has already created an Indian Ocean forum of its own. In other words, the institutional architecture in India's neighbourhood is unlikely to remain frozen. China is moving to fill the regional vacuum created by India's troubled ties with Pakistan and Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Beijing is consolidating its economic presence in Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, and Namibia — all countries on Modi's itinerary. While these nations are keen to diversify their partnerships, including with India, what matters to them is not ideological alignment but tangible cooperation in trade, technology and defence. At a time when new uncertainties envelop India's relations with great powers as well as neighbours, Delhi needs to focus on accelerating economic reforms at home, restoring domestic political unity, reclaiming the leadership of the Subcontinent, and strengthening ties with key developing nations. The writer is distinguished fellow at the Council on Strategic and Defence Research, Delhi and contributing editor on international affairs for The Indian Express.
United News of India
26 minutes ago
- United News of India
North Korean military school delegation departs for Russia, set to visit Military Academy
Pyongyang/Moscow, July 1 (UNI) A delegation from a major North Korean military school has departed for Russia, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. Led by Kim Il Sung Military University chief Kim Kum Chol, the delegation is set to visit Russia's Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the KCNA announced in a brief two-line report today, reports NK News. This marks Kim's first known visit to Moscow since last July, when Russian Telegram channels reported that he had drowned in a lake near Moscow. Russian law enforcers and medical authorities confirmed to NK News at the time that the deceased was a man named Kim Kum Chol, who was the same age as the military official. But the KCNA's report appears to confirm that the North Korean University president did not drown and that it was a coincidence that the man who died in Moscow shared his name. The military delegation's visit comes following the visit of a Russian delegation to the DPRK, led by Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova, to promote cultural exchanges between Pyongyang and Moscow. Russia and the DPRK have significantly intensified bilateral exchanges since the latter half of 2023 when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia. In June 2024, the two countries signed an agreement on comprehensive strategic partnership. With Russia providing North Korea with technical expertise on military infrastructure and IT services and the DPRK giving Russia weapons and manpower, Kim Jong Un recently ordered the dispatch of 6,000 military engineers and construction workers to Russia's Kursk region, in addition to nearly 12,000 soldiers already deployed there since October, with South Korea's National Intelligence Agency expecting their arrival around July or August. UNI ANV SS
India.com
27 minutes ago
- India.com
Trump: Israel Agrees To 60-Day Gaza Ceasefire; Urges Hamas To Accept Deal
United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) said that Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza. Trump cautioned Hamas against rejecting the ceasefire deal, warning that "it will not get better -- it will only get worse." Qatar and Egypt, who, according to Trump, "worked very hard to help bring Peace", will deliver the final proposal. He also stated that negotiations to end the war would continue during the proposed ceasefire period. "My Representatives had a long and productive meeting with the Israelis today on Gaza. Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War. The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better -- IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. The announcement came less than a week before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled visit to the United States on July 7. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes have continued across Gaza. On Monday, Israel launched at least 50 aerial strikes, with a significant focus on eastern Gaza City, following forced evacuation warnings issued by the Israeli military, according to Al Jazeera. Citing medical sources, Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces killed at least 68 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including 47 in Gaza City and the northern areas of the territory. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, the ongoing war has so far claimed at least 56,500 lives and wounded 133,419 people. In comparison, around 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, during which more than 200 individuals were taken captive.
