Overview

• President Trump wrote on his social media network that terminating Elon Musk’s government subsidies and contracts is the easiest way to save billions under his Big Beautiful Bill
• In retaliation, Musk announced that SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately following Trump’s threat
• Tesla’s share price plunged more than 14% as investors weighed the risk of lost subsidies and escalating political conflict
• Musk intensified his attacks by claiming on X that Trump’s name appears in the Jeffrey Epstein files, suggesting that secrecy surrounds those documents
• The feud traces back to Musk’s recent exit from the Department of Government Efficiency and his public criticism of the bill’s impact on the federal deficit, endangering both Trump’s legislative agenda and Musk’s business interests