Trump, Musk to speak after alliance descends into public feud: reports

White House schedules call between Trump and Musk after public feud, impacting Tesla stock and government contracts.

White House aides scheduled a call between Donald Trump and Elon Musk for Friday (June 6, 2025), Politico reported, after a huge public spat that saw threats fly over government contracts and ended with the world's richest man suggesting the U.S. president should be impeached.

The reported call could ease the feuding after an extraordinary day of hostilities — largely conducted over social media — that marked a stark end to a close alliance.

Shares in Mr. Musk's Tesla closed down over 14% on Thursday, losing about $150 billion in market value in the largest single-day decline in value in its history. In pre-market European trading on Friday, they pared some of those losses, rising 5% after the Politico report that the two men were scheduled to speak.

Mr. Musk had bankrolled a large part of Mr. Trump's presidential campaign and was then brought in as one of the president's most visible advisers, heading up a sweeping and controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending.

The verbal punches erupted on Thursday (June 5, 2025) after Mr. Trump criticised Mr. Musk in the Oval Office and the pair then traded barbs on their social media platforms: Mr. Trump's Truth Social and Mr. Musk's X.

The falling-out had begun brewing days ago when Mr. Musk, who left his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency a week ago, denounced Mr. Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill.

The president initially stayed quiet while Mr. Musk campaigned to torpedo the bill, saying it would add too much to the nation's $36.2 trillion in debt.