- Summary
- Companies
- White House aides had hoped to have a call between Trump and Musk on Friday
- Trump, Musk traded barbs on their social media platforms
- Musk said he would decommission Dragon spacecraft, then backed off
WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and his one-time close ally billionaire Elon Musk were now not expected to talk on Friday, despite efforts by White House aides to get a truce after a huge public clash the previous day.
A White House official told Reuters that no call was planned for Friday.
A White House official had said earlier that the two men would speak on Friday.
A 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 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 the electric vehicle maker’s history. In pre-market trading on Friday they pared some of those losses, rising as much as 5% after the early news that the two men were scheduled to speak.
Musk had bankrolled a large part of Trump’s presidential campaign and was then brought 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 after Trump criticized Musk in the Oval Office and the pair then traded barbs on their social media platforms: Trump’s Truth Social and Musk’s X.
The falling-out had begun brewing days ago when Musk, who left his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency a week ago, denounced Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill.
Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Joey Roulette, Jarrett Renshaw, Nilutpal Timsina, Chandni Shah and Aditya Soni
Writing by Costas Pitas, Joseph Ax, Charlie Devereux and Susan Heavey
Editing by Don Durfee, Michael Perry and Frances Kerry
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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