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Elon Musk has said he “regrets some” of his social media posts about Donald Trump, after a spat between two of the world’s most powerful men resulted in a public split last week.
“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,” the Tesla chief executive said in a post on his social media company X on Wednesday.
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary said later on Wednesday: “The president acknowledged the statement that Elon put out this morning, and he is appreciative of it, and we are continuing to focus on the business of the American people.”
The pair’s relationship had shown signs of strains in recent weeks, with the Tesla chief criticising parts of the White House agenda, including the president’s signature tax bill, which he called a “disgusting abomination”.
It then imploded last week as the two traded insults. In a series of posts on X, Musk called for Trump to be impeached, suggested his trade tariffs would cause a US recession, threatened to decommission SpaceX capsules used to transport Nasa astronauts and insinuated the president was associated with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In response, Trump had threatened to rip up US government contracts with Musk’s businesses. However, Leavitt on Wednesday said: “No efforts have been made on that front, as far as I’m aware.”
Allies have urged the pair to repair their relationship.
The Financial Times last week reported senior figures in the tech industry had urged the two to reunite, amid concerns the damaging spat could affect the administration’s plans for tax cuts and deregulation.
Late last week Trump said he was “not even thinking about Elon”.
“The poor guy’s got a problem,” he said. But he added “I wish him well.”
Musk helped bankroll Trump’s presidential campaign and spearheaded the administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, but left the administration last month.
Additional reporting by Steff Chávez in New York.
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