- Trump announces Musk will soon step back from his government role.
- Musk’s 130-day term as a special employee ends by May, focusing on cutting $1 trillion in spending.
- Shares of government contractors and Tesla rose after the news.
U.S. President Donald Trump has told his Cabinet and close contacts that Elon Musk, his billionaire ally, will soon step back from his government role, according to a report by Politico on Wednesday. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, had been asked by Trump to help cut government funding and work on dismantling U.S. agencies as a special government employee.
Recently, both Trump and Musk decided that Musk will return to his businesses, but there is no set date for when that will happen. The White House, Musk’s task force, and Musk himself did not respond immediately to requests for comments.
After the news broke, shares of some companies, especially those that contract with the government, rose. Tesla’s shares, which had fallen 2% due to a drop in first-quarter deliveries, reversed direction and went up by 3%.
Both Trump and Musk have recently said that Musk will move on from his government role, but they haven’t mentioned when. When asked if he wanted Musk to stay longer than his 130-day term, Trump told reporters on Monday, “I think he’s amazing, but I also think he’s got a big company to run. At some point, he’s going to be going back. He wants to.”
Musk’s 130-day term as a special government employee is set to end by the end of May. Last week, he told Fox News that he was confident he would finish most of the work to cut $1 trillion in federal spending before then.
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