Elon Musk says he ‘regrets’ comments made about Donald Trump amid feud
Elon Musk has backtracked on comments aimed at Donald Trump prompting hope their bromance will be rekindled.
Donald Trump has said he “could” patch things up with his former billionaire buddy, Elon Musk, but a potential reconciliation isn’t a top priority.
Speaking with New York Post columnist and veteran Australian journalist Miranda Devine on the debut episode of Pod Force One, the US President said he doesn’t “blame” Musk for the blow-up of their alliance, but is “a little disappointed.”
“Look, I have no hard feelings,” President Trump, 78, said during in a wide-ranging interview recorded Monday.
“I was really surprised that that happened. He went after a bill that’s phenomenal. … He just – I think he feels very badly that he said that, actually.”
“I was disappointed in him, but, you know, it is what it is,” Mr Trump admitted after Ms Devine remarked that Mr Musk seemed to treat the president “a bit like a father.”
“That happens. Things like that happen. I don’t blame him for anything. I was a little disappointed.”
Mr Trump seemed even more ready to bury the hatchet by early Thursday AEST.
The Post briefly spoke to Mr Trump a second time on the matter in the wake of Mr Musk’s apology where he admitted he had gone “too far” in his personal attacks on the commander-in-chief.
“I thought it was very nice that he did that,” the president told The Post in a brief phone conversation.
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MUSK SAYS SORRY
The world’s richest person said he regretted some of his recent criticisms of the US president, after the pair’s public falling-out last week.
“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X on Wednesday.
Musk’s expression of regret came just days after Trump threatened the tech billionaire with “serious consequences” if he sought to punish Republicans who vote for a controversial spending bill.
Some politicians who were against the bill had called on Musk – one of the Republican Party’s biggest financial backers in last year’s presidential election – to fund primary challenges against Republicans who voted for the legislation.
“He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that,” Trump, who also branded Musk “disrespectful,” told NBC News on Saturday, without specifying what those consequences would be
But after the tech mogul signalled that his white-hot public feud with the President may be starting to cool off, Trump told reporters at the White House in a clip reposted by X influencer ALX: “We had a great relationship and I wish him well – very well, actually.”
Musk responded by posting a heart emoji, signalling that the former “First Buddy” may no longer have hard feelings.
‘SOUNDS ABOUT WHITE’: TRUMP ORDER SHOCKS AMERICA
President Donald Trump announced that he will restore the names of Fort Robert E. Lee and six other military bases that formerly honoured Confederate war leaders.
“For a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett [in Virginia], Fort Hood [in Texas], Fort Gordon [in Georgia], Fort Rucker [in Alabama], Fort Polk [in Louisiana], Fort A.P. Hill [in Virginia] and Fort Robert E. Lee [also in Virginia],” Mr Trump said in a speech at Fort Bragg in North Carolina marking the US Army’s 250th anniversary, The New York Post reports.
“We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It’s no time to change. And I’m superstitious, you know, I like to keep it going, right? I’m very superstitious,” Mr Trump said.
“We want to keep it going. So that’s a big story.”
The base that hosted Mr Trump was itself recently renamed – though in that case, the Army in February restored its original moniker to honour World War II paratrooper and Silver Star recipient Roland Bragg rather than Confederate general Braxton Bragg.
Former President Joe Biden renamed the bases honouring the Confederates in 2023 – with Bragg, the nation’s largest base, briefly known as Fort Liberty instead. Biden initiated the renaming process in 2021 – in the wake of nationwide Black Lives Matter protests the prior year – by signing a bill that created a commission and a three-year timetable to drop tributes to men who led the slave states’ revolt between 1861 and 1865.
It’s unclear whether Trump requires fresh legal authority to restore the names – particularly those of Fort A.P. Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee, which he implied would not be rechristened in honour of someone of the same surname.
The announcement left Americans shocked.
“This isn’t about honouring military heroes. It’s about resurrecting a whitewashed version of America where traitors are celebrated and equality is a threat,” wrote an X user.
Another X user said: “Now, why would he feel the need to do that? This is a legitimate question and I hope someone out there in the cult can answer it”, alluding to the KKK.
A third X user agreed: “Sounds about white”.
MIGRATION LEADS TO ‘CHAOS, DYSFUNCTION’
In a hard line speech at Fort Bragg, Mr Trump described LA immigration protesters as “animals” and got troops to boo the names of California Governor Gavin Newsom and ex-president Joe Biden.
Mr Trump linked the protesters to what he called “uncontrolled migration” and said that Europe – which his administration has repeatedly berated on the subject – must act too.
“As the entire world can now see, uncontrolled migration leads to chaos, dysfunction and disorder,” Mr Trump said.
“And you know what? They have it in Europe too. It’s happening in many of the countries of Europe. They better do something before it’s too late.”
Mr Trump’s speech at Fort Bragg is also sending a message about what his new Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth calls a new, “woke-free” military.
Before introducing the “commander-in-chief” to the stage Mr Hegseth said the administration was not interested in “your woke garbage and your political correctness” and it would restore the “warrior ethos back to basics”.
WWII appears to have been increasingly on Mr Trump’s mind since returning to office.
He recently designated May 8 “Victory Day,” noting that, unlike much of Europe, the United States had no day to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany – and he has repeatedly downplayed the role of US allies in the war.
“You would be speaking German right now, okay? We won the war, and you might be speaking Japanese too,” Mr Trump told a reporter in the Oval Office on Tuesday, and again in his speech.
Critics say that Mr Trump’s military fascination underscores an authoritarian streak.
Mr Trump has leaned into the strongman imagery of deploying 700 Marines as well as 4000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to deal with protests.
Mr Trump also used his Fort Bragg speech as an opportunity to tout his massive increase in defence budget.
The US military is the greatest in the world, he said, “and I rebuilt it. I gave you so much money it was crazy.”
WORLD BANK ISSUE DIRE FORECAST AFTER TRUMP TARIFFS TUMULT
The World Bank has slashed its 2025 global growth forecast, citing trade tensions and resulting policy uncertainty, as President Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs strained ties and weighed on economic outlooks.
The bank lowered its projection for global GDP growth to 2.3 per cent in its latest economic prospects report, down from 2.7 per cent expected in January, the latest in a series of downgrades by international organisations.
“That’s the weakest performance in 17 years, outside of outright global recessions,” said World Bank Group chief economist Indermit Gill.
Global growth and inflation prospects for this year and next have worsened because of “high levels of policy uncertainty and this growing fragmentation of trade relations,” he added.
“Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep,” Mr Gill warned.
By 2027, the World Bank expects global GDP growth to average 2.5 per cent in the 2020s, which would be the slowest rate in any decade since the 1960s.
The gloomier projections come after Mr Trump imposed a 10 per cent tariff on imports from almost all US trading partners in April – and higher rates on dozens of these economies, which he has since suspended until early July.
He also engaged in tit-for-tat escalation with China, although both countries have hit pause on their trade war and temporarily lowered these staggering duties. But a lasting truce remains uncertain.
The US economy is expected to grow by 1.4 per cent this year, a sharp slowdown for the world’s biggest economy from a 2.8 per cent expansion in 2024.
If US tariffs on imports rose another 10 percentage points, triggering proportional retaliation, the shock to international trade and financial markets could cut world growth by 0.5 percentage points this year, the report added.
By 2027, while the per capita GDP of high-income economies will be approximately where it was in pre-pandemic forecasts, corresponding levels for developing economies would be six per cent lower.
“Except for China, it could take these economies about two decades to recoup the economic losses of the 2020s,” Gill cautioned.
This month, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development also slashed its 2025 global growth forecast from 3.1 per cent to 2.9 per cent, warning that President Trump’s tariffs would stifle the world economy.
This came after the International Monetary Fund in April cut its world growth expectations for this year too on the effects of Mr Trump’s levies, from 3.3 per cent to 2.8 per cent.
IRAN WILL BEGIN NEW ROUND OF NUKE TALKS WITH US
The sixth round of Iran-US nuclear talks is planned for Sunday, Tehran said as the two sides appear locked in a standoff over uranium enrichment nearly two months into the high-stakes negotiations.
It came as European powers and the United States submitted a censure motion to the UN’s nuclear watchdog in an effort to ramp up pressure on Iran, despite Tehran’s warnings.
Iran has said it will present a counter-proposal to the latest draft from Washington, which it had criticised for failing to offer sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
“The next round of Iran-US indirect talks is being planned for next Sunday in Muscat,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement on Tuesday.
CHINA-US TALKS BEGIN IN LONDON
China and the United States began a new round of trade talks in London on Monday, Beijing’s state media reported, as the world’s two biggest economies seek to shore up a shaky truce after bruising tit-for-tat tariffs.
The two sides are meeting in the historic Lancaster House, run by the UK Foreign Office, following a first round of talks in Geneva last month.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng was again heading the team in London. Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported the start of the talks.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are leading the US delegation, President Donald Trump said.
“The meeting should go very well,” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News: “We want China and the United States to continue moving forward with the agreement that was struck in Geneva.”
While the UK government reiterated that it was not involved in the discussions, a spokesperson said: “We are a nation that champions free trade.”
UK authorities “have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody’s interests, so we welcome these talks”, the spokesperson added.
The talks in London come just a few days after Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping finally held their first publicly announced telephone talks since the Republican returned to the White House.
Mr Trump said the call reached a “very positive conclusion”, while Xi was quoted by Xinhua as saying “correcting the course of the big ship of Sino-US relations requires us to steer well and set the direction”.
Tensions between the two nations have soared, with President Trump accusing Beijing of violating a tariff de-escalation deal reached in Geneva in mid-May.
“We need China to comply with their side of the deal. And so that’s what the trade team will be discussing tomorrow,” Ms Leavitt said on Sunday.
A key issue will be Beijing’s shipments of rare earths – crucial to a range of goods including electric vehicle batteries and which have been a bone of contention for some time.
“Rare earth shipments from China to the US have slowed since President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs in April,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.
“The US wants these shipments to be reinstated, while China wants the US to rethink immigration curbs on students, restrictions on access to advanced technology including microchips, and to make it easier for Chinese tech providers to access US consumers,” she added.
In April, Mr Trump introduced sweeping worldwide tariffs that targeted China most heavily.
At one point, Washington hit Beijing with additional levies of 145 per cent on its goods, prompting China to respond with tariffs reaching 125 per cent on US goods.
After two days of talks in Switzerland, both sides agreed to slash the eye-watering tariffs for 90 days, but key differences remain – especially over China’s rare earth export restrictions.
The impact was reflected in the latest official export data released Monday in Beijing.
Exports to the United States fell 12.7 per cent in May from the previous month, with China shipping $US28.8bn ($A44bn) worth of goods.
This was down from $US33bn ($A51bn in April, according to Beijing’s General Administration of Customs.
According to a spokesperson for Prime Minister Starmer, Britain’s finance minister Rachel Reeves took advantage of the talks in London to meet with her US counterpart Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Sunday.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Elon Musk says he ‘regrets’ comments made about Donald Trump amid feud