Happy New Year 2025

Tag: Musk

Elon Musk says he’ll drop OpenAI bid if its board does this: report

Constellation Research founder Ray Wang explains how the fight between Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman began on ‘Making Money.’

Elon Musk will withdraw his unsolicited bid of $97.4 billion to take over OpenAI if its board of directors stops the company’s conversion into a for-profit entity, a report said.

The development reported by The Wall Street Journal comes after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman rejected Musk’s offer earlier this week, saying that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO is “probably just trying to slow us down” and that OpenAI – the maker of ChatGPT – is not for sale.

“If [the] OpenAI board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the ‘for sale’ sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid,” Musk’s lawyers wrote in a court filing Wednesday, according to the newspaper.

Both Musk and Altman started OpenAI as a charity in 2015. When Musk left, Altman became the chief executive and the company established a for-profit subsidiary to raise money from investors and Microsoft. Now, Altman is looking to turn the subsidiary into a traditional company, The Wall Street Journal reported.

ALTMAN SAYS MUSK ‘TRYING TO SLOW US DOWN,’ OPENAI NOT FOR SALE

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, has rejected a bid from SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, right, to purchase his company. (Sean Gallup/Andrew Harnik/Getty Images / Getty Images)

OpenAI did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from FOX Business.

“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk reportedly said in a statement when he launched his bid. “We will make sure that happens.”

Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI but cut ties with the company in 2018 after he was unable to persuade its other leaders to put him in charge of a for-profit OpenAI entity or merge the company with Tesla.

MUSK CLAIMS THERE ARE 150-YEAR-OLDS RECEIVING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS

Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks during a talk session with SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son at an event titled “Transforming Business through AI” in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 3. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Look, OpenAI is not for sale,” Altman told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday. “Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is this week’s episode.”

“I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor. He’s working hard to raise a lot of money for [his startup] xAI and they are trying to compete with us from a technological perspective from getting the product into the market and I wish he would just compete by building a better product but I think there has been a lot of tactics, you know many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff and now this,” Altman added. “And we’ll try to just put our head down and keep working.”

Elon Musk, left, and Sam Altman are seen onstage together during an event at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, Calif., in October 2015. (Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair / Getty Images)

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Altman also responded to Musk’s offer on X, saying, “no thank you but we may buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

FOX Business’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

February 13, 2025
Musk claims there are 150-year-olds receiving Social Security benefits

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk unpack the goal of the Department of Government Efficiency live from the Oval Office.

Billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday claimed that a cursory review of Social Security records by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) found evidence that the safety net program is paying benefits to 150-year-olds.

Musk, who has been tasked with leading DOGE as a special government employee, spoke to reporters on Tuesday from the Oval Office of the White House with President Donald Trump and said DOGE found payments going to beneficiaries listed as being around the age of 150, though he didn’t go into detail about the claims.

“There’s crazy things, like, just a cursory examination of Social Security and we’ve got people in there that are about 150 years old,” Musk said. “Now, do you know anyone that’s 150? I don’t. They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records, they’re missing out.”

“So that’s the case where, like, I think they’re probably dead is my guess, or they should be very famous. One of the two,” he added.

TRUMP, MUSK BOND OVER PLASTIC STRAWS

Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk said the efficiency task force found records of Social Security payments going to 150-year-olds. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

Musk went on to say that “there are a whole bunch of Social Security payments where there’s no identifying information, like, why is there no identifying information?”

“Obviously, we want to make sure that people who deserve to receive Social Security do receive it, and that they receive it quickly and accurately,” he added.

POWELL PUSHES BACK ON MUSK/DOGE, SAYS FED ‘OVERWORKED,’ NOT ‘OVERSTAFFED‘

President Donald Trump tasked Elon Musk with leading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Musk also spoke about his perspective on DOGE’s mission in terms of reducing wasteful federal spending.

“If your taxpayer dollars are not spent in a sensible and frugal manner, then that’s not okay. Your tax dollars need to be spent wisely on the things that matter to the people,” Musk said.

“It’s not draconian or radical, I think, it’s really just saying let’s look at each of the expenditures and say, is this actually in the best interest of the people, and if it is, it’s approved, if it’s not, we should think about it,” he added.

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February 13, 2025
DOGE chair Joni Ernst keeping close contact with Elon Musk as Trump admin slashes spending

Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus Chairwoman Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she talks to Trump-aligned billionaire Elon Musk every couple of days as he spearheads the administration’s effort to slash wasteful spending.

“We communicate back and forth every few days or so,” she told Fox News Digital in an interview. “I’ll send additional ideas that we come up with.”

According to Ernst, during a meeting at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in November, she gave Musk “an eight-page memorandum blueprint with a number of cost-saving ideas.”

SCOOP: TRUMP BUDGET CHIEF VOUGHT TELLS GOP SENATORS $175B NEEDED ‘IMMEDIATELY’ FOR BORDER SECURITY

Elon Musk and Joni Ernst have been staying connected on DOGE. (Reuters/ Getty Images)

“He literally is taking that and running with it,” the Iowa Republican remarked.

She said she simply sends new ideas directly to Musk, and “pretty soon you’ll see a tweet out on X.”

When asked whether she thought she would ever be working to audit the government with the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the owner of X, Ernst laughed, “Never in a million years.”

TRUMP ON VERGE OF NEXT CABINET VICTORY WITH LATE-NIGHT TULSI GABBARD SENATE VOTE

The Congressional DOGE Caucus now has over 100 members, Fox News Digital was told. (House of Representatives/Getty)

Since Trump took office last month, DOGE has taken swift action to audit agencies and departments within the executive branch, rooting out contracts, programs and spending that Trump and Musk consider unnecessary or wasteful.

The effort has been met by Democrats with protests, as lawmakers have shown up outside the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Treasury and the Department of Education to demonstrate. Some Democrats have even attempted to enter the buildings, but were prevented.

NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS

Protesters descended on the building that once housed USAID. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

On the other hand, Republicans have cheered the initiative. For example, Ernst told Fox News Digital that DOGE’s actions so far have been “tremendous.”

As for criticisms of how DOGE’s staffers are conducting their audit and what information they are gaining access to, the Iowa Republican maintained that it is completely legal in her opinion. “This is the executive branch and they are scrutinizing the executive branch. So, of course, it’s legal,” she said.

LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER: THE LITTLE-KNOWN TRUMP NOMINEE WHO MAY NEED TO RELY ON DEMS

Joni Ernst is chairwoman of the DOGE caucus. (Reuters)

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“There is nothing in the Constitution that says the president cannot scrutinize the expenditures, especially when those dollars are going to programs that members here in Congress did not anticipate,” she noted, referencing jaw-dropping programs being uncovered by DOGE, showing significant money going towards Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), among other initiatives.

Fox News Digital reached out to Musk’s DOGE for comment.

Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.

Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to [email protected].

February 12, 2025
Oregon congresswoman determined to protect federal workers with Stop Musk Act

DOGE backup: Trump’s latest executive order

Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich shares President Donald Trump’s latest executive order to ‘significantly’ reduce the federal workforce on ‘Special Report.’

An Oregon congresswoman is determined to protect federal workers from possible retaliation by introducing new legislation that focuses on “federal workers who stand up against Elon Musk’s grotesque seizure of critical government agencies.”

Representative Maxine Dexter has proposed the “Stop Musk Act” which states, “No Federal employee may be retaliated against, including any retaliation occurring on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, for resisting, circumventing, or preventing Elon Musk or individuals he oversees from taking unlawful or unconstitutional actions relating to Federal agencies.”

The bill addresses, what Dexter alleges, is Musk’s recent seizing of control of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s payment system, exposing Oregonian’s personal financial information, shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) putting the lives of millions of people at risk.

PRESIDENT TRUMP PREDICTS ELON MUSK WILL FIND ‘HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS’ IN WASTE IN NEXT DOGE DIRECTIVES

The ‘Stop Musk Act’ states federal employees who resist, circumvent, or prevent Musk’s takeover would be protected against any present or future retaliation for their efforts. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

She alleges that the billionaire has “the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) undermining our work to combat the climate crisis. This is only the beginning. Under this legislation, federal employees who resist, circumvent, or prevent Musk’s takeover would be protected against any present or future retaliation for their efforts.”

The bill comes as Musk, along with the Department of Government Efficiency, has forced leave of U.S. Agency for International Development staffers.

“The world’s richest man should not have the power to unilaterally dismantle the federal government and the critical services it provides Oregonians. Federal employees are at the forefront of fighting Elon Musk’s power grab, and we must protect them.

The bill comes as Musk, along with the Department of Government Efficiency, has forced leave of U.S. Agency for International Development staffers. ( Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

TRUMP DEFENDS MUSK’S DOGE AMID DEMS’ RESISTANCE EFFORTS | FOX NEWS VIDEO

President Trump continues to defend DOGE’s work alongside Musk and has predicted that he will find billions in fraud and abuse. Meanwhile, his actions have been met with outrage from some Democrats.

“I’m going to tell him very soon… to go check the Department of Education. He’s going to find the same thing. Then I’m going to go into the military. Let’s check the military. We’re going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse, and the people elected me on that.”

Trump and Musk have asked federal workers to leave their jobs, and even offered a buyout to some, giving them the opportunity to quit and still get paid until Sept. 30.

The bill comes as Musk, along with the Department of Government Efficiency, has forced leave of U.S. Agency for International Development staffers. (Fox News)

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Dexter says she is concerned as thousands of federal workers in Oregon are voicing their opinions about cuts to federal agencies.

“All week, I have heard from constituents who are demanding action. Let me be clear: we will use every legislative, judicial, and public pressure tactic to stop Musk’s takeover. This multi-front battle will be fought in the courts, the halls of Congress, and the public sphere.

“We must stay loud. We must stand tight. We must press on.”

February 12, 2025
Raskin blasts Musk for DOGE-led cost-cutting measures across federal government

Despite not being the president, Elon Musk stands accused of usurping three presidential powers through his Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to cut costs and downsize the scope of the federal government.

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., appeared Sunday on MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” and he was asked if Republicans have joined him and other Democrats to back the “Nobody Elected Elon Musk Act,” which was introduced to rein in DOGE, the cost-cutting agency that has targeted certain government programs.

“At this point, they’re either out there cheerleading for Elon Musk or more and more of them are getting real quiet because they see the public does not like this,” said Raskin, who is proposing the legislation.

“The public does not like the idea that a guy who would not even be constitutionally eligible to run for president is acting as president.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS LIMITED DOGE ACCESS TO SENSITIVE TREASURY DEPARTMENT PAYMENT SYSTEM RECORDS

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“A guy who, if he were president, would be impeached immediately because he’s taking billions of dollars in foreign government emoluments from all over the world,” he added. “And some have actually been talking about impeaching President Elon Musk right now on the theory that he’s usurped the powers of the presidency.”

Raskin said Musk wants to create a “techno monarchy” amid his cost-cutting through DOGE.

“Elon Musk would really like to completely overthrow our system of government and move us into some kind of techno monarchy under the geniuses of Silicon Valley,” he said.

HEGSETH SAYS DOGE WELCOME AT PENTAGON AS DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REVIEWS MILITARY POSTURE GLOBALLY

Musk’s role in the Trump administration has garnered praise from Republicans and drawn the ire of Democrats who worry about his access to government databases and say he is trying to take over the government in a way that’s not transparent.

“The people voted for major government reform,” Musk told reporters Tuesday from the Oval Office alongside Trump. “There should be no doubt about that. That was on the campaign. The president spoke about that at every rally. The people voted for major government reform. And that’s what people are going to get.”

Since President Donald Trump has taken office, DOGE has set its sights on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Treasury Department.

A judge recently issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Musk-led department and political appointees from accessing sensitive Treasury Department data. Trump has also directed DOGE to probe the Education and Defense departments for wasteful spending.

“Billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse,” Trump said Tuesday. “And I think it’s very important. And that’s one of the reasons I got elected.”

Musk defended DOGE, saying the group is targeting bureaucracies that don’t provide anything in return to taxpayers, as well as targeting America’s debt.

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“What we have is this unelected, fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has, in a lot of ways, currently more power than any elected representative,” Musk said. “And this is not something that people want. It does not match the will of the people. So, it’s just something we’ve got we’ve got to fix.

“So, what I really would say is it’s not optional for us to reduce the federal expense,” he added. “It’s essential.”

February 12, 2025
DOGE must ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood, Mike Pence’s watchdog group urges Musk

FIRST ON FOX: Former Vice President Mike Pence’s conservative watchdog nonprofit is urging Elon Musk, head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to cut off “wasteful” federal spending on Planned Parenthood.

“For the sake of the American people and generations yet unborn, the time has come for the United States to finally defund the largest abortion provider in America,” Tim Chapman, president of Advancing American Freedom, wrote in a letter to Musk on Tuesday.

TRUMP’S HOUSE ALLIES UNVEIL BILL ‘HAND IN HAND’ WITH DOGE CRACKDOWN

Mike Pence’s conservative nonprofit Advancing American Freedom is urging DOGE leader Elon Musk to cut funding that benefits Planned Parenthood. (Getty Images)

Planned Parenthood received approximately $75 billion in federal funding from 2019 to 2021, including $22 billion in Health and Human Services grants and $53 billion from public health programs, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America affiliates accounted for $148 million in HHS grants and $1.5 billion in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP payments, with regional organizations receiving an additional $108 million. Taxpayer dollars made up 34% of Planned Parenthood’s funding, the letter stated, citing a 2022-2023 annual report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

“While we are grateful for your work eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government, we truly believe that the opportunity to defund Planned Parenthood may be yours and President Trump’s greatest moment,” the letter read.

MUSK’S NEXT TARGET? TRUMP SAYS DOGE WILL LOOK AT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, PENTAGON FUNDING

Elon Musk, the chair of DOGE, has taken aim at various spending projects throughout the federal government. (Getty Images)

President Trump enacted measures last month to restrict abortion funding. He reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits federal funding to international non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortions. He also signed an executive order enforcing the 1980 Hyde Amendment to prevent federal funds from being used for elective abortions, reversing previous policies under the Biden administration that had expanded access to abortion services.

The Biden-Harris administration subsequently ramped up its support for Planned Parenthood’s abortion access following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Under the previous administration, $700 million in federal funds was given to Planned Parenthood during a one-year span as the organization performed a record number of abortions, which coincided with a decline in all other major services, according to Planned Parenthood’s 2022-2023 report published last year.

HEGSETH WELCOMES IN ELON MUSK’S DOGE FOR ‘LONG OVERDUE’ DOD SPENDING OVERHAUL

Planned Parenthood provides contraceptives and abortion services at clinics across the country. (Getty Images)

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House, DOGE and Planned Parenthood for comment.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 11, 2025
Trump, Elon Musk share love of plastic straws

‘Kudlow’ panelists Art Laffer and Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., discuss tariff policy and efforts to end waste.

It looks like President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are bonding over their distaste for paper straws.

Musk, the billionaire CEO of automaker Tesla and Trump’s head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has opined about paper straws and strawless lids in the past.

In 2022, for instance, he wrote on X, “Stop the war on straws!” Musk also called paper straws “the worst” in a more-recent August 2024 post on the social media platform.

Paper straws and other alternatives to plastic straws have gained steam over the past 10 years or so because of concerns about the environment and plastic pollution.

TRUMP TREASURY HEAD DEFENDS ELON MUSK’S DOGE DESPITE ‘SQUAWKING’ FROM CRITICS

Now, Trump has issued an executive order to “end the procurement and forced use of paper straws.”

“

President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event on Nov. 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

“We’re going back to plastic straws. These things don’t work. I’ve had a many times and on occasion they break, they explode. If something’s hot, they don’t last very long. Like a matter of minutes. Sometimes a matter of seconds. It’s a ridiculous situation. So we’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump said Monday as he signed the executive order.

Trump’s executive order came after he signaled late last week on Truth Social that he would issue one “ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work.”

“BACK TO PLASTIC!” he wrote.

Trump’s announcement prompted Musk to praise Trump as the “Greatest President ever.”

President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a launch of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, Nov. 19, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Pool via / Reuters)

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During July of last year, the Biden administration pushed to sunset “federal procurement of single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.” It cited an ongoing “plastic pollution crisis” as the reason behind that move and other efforts.

Straws, cups, forks, knives and spoons are some common single-use plastics used for food.

‘BACK TO PLASTIC!’: TRUMP VOWS EXECUTIVE ORDER ENDING ‘RIDICULOUS’ PUSH FOR PAPER STRAWS

Prior to the Biden administration’s July 2024 efforts to phase single-use plastics out of the government’s operations, the Department of Interior had issued a 2022 order seeking to move away from single-use plastics on lands it managed by 2032 by working to “reduce the procurement, sale and distribution” of such products.

Even as some studies found 90% of paper straws tested contained forever chemicals compared to 75% of plastic straws.

Some studies found 90% of paper straws tested contained forever chemicals compared to 75% of plastic straws. ( / iStock)

The Interior Department’s actions were part of an executive order signed by Biden in December 2021.

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

February 11, 2025
OpenAI’s Altman says Musk ‘trying to slow us down’ with takeover bid

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar discusses the company’s partnership with SoftBank, consumers embracing artificial intelligence, OpenAI’s ‘deep research’ tool and DeepSeek’s impact in the space.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Elon Musk is “probably just trying to slow us down” with his bid to purchase the company, insisting on Tuesday that it is not for sale.

Altman, who spoke to Bloomberg on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit in Paris following Musk’s unsolicited bid of $97.4 billion to take over OpenAI, also said that Musk is probably living his whole life “from a position of insecurity” and that “I don’t think he’s like a happy person, I do feel for him.”

“Look, OpenAI is not for sale,” Altman told Bloomberg. “Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is this week’s episode.”

“I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor. He’s working hard to raise a lot of money for [his startup] xAI and they are trying to compete with us from a technological perspective from getting the product into the market and I wish he would just compete by building a better product but I think there has been a lot of tactics, you know many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff and now this,” Altman added. “And we’ll try to just put our head down and keep working.”

AI WILL HELP LOWER PRICES, BUT COULD BE USED BY AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS, ALTMAN SAYS

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, is rejecting a bid from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to purchase Open AI. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Chip Somodevilla/AFP/Getty Images)

When asked if he is concerned about Musk’s proximity to President Donald Trump and his ability to potentially influence him regarding U.S. policy on AI, Altman said “Maybe I should, but not particularly.

“I try to just wake up and think about how we are going to make our technology better,” he also said.

Marc Toberoff, Musk’s attorney, said he submitted the bid on Monday to the board of directors at OpenAI to purchase the company, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Altman also responded to Musk’s offer on X, saying, “no thank you but we may buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

ELON MUSK WARNS FEDERAL RESERVE MAY FACE DOGE AUDIT

Elon Musk, left, and Sam Altman are seen onstage together during an event at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco in 2015. (Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair / Getty Images)

Musk turned to X and fired back quickly, “Swindler,” and later wrote, “Never a dull moment on X.”

Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI but cut ties with the company in 2018 after he was unable to persuade its other leaders to put him in charge of a for-profit OpenAI entity or merge the company with Tesla.

Both Musk and Altman started OpenAI as a charity in 2015. When Musk left, Altman became the chief executive and the company established a for-profit subsidiary to raise money from investors and Microsoft. Now, Altman is looking to turn the subsidiary into a traditional company, the WSJ reported.

OpenAI is the creator of ChatGPT. (Photo Illustration by Idrees Abbas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Last month, Trump announced a massive $500 billion infrastructure project called Stargate. Major names including Softbank, OpenAI and Oracle plan to join forces to build data centers in the U.S. for the further development of AI.

FOX Business’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

February 11, 2025
Canadian lawmaker wants to target Elon Musk in retaliation to Trump’s tariffs

Potential Canadian prime minister, Jagmeet Singh, warned President Donald Trump and Tesla-founder Elon Musk that Canada will respond to American tariffs with tariffs of its own.

Canadian lawmaker Jagmeet Singh proposed that Canada should “fight back” towards President Donald Trump and Tesla founder Elon Musk with new tariffs targeted at the Tesla founder.

Trump told reporters on Monday that he would soon announce 25% tariffs on all aluminum and steel imports into the U.S. and also plans to announce “reciprocal tariffs” – or tariffs directed at countries that impose duties on U.S. exports.

“Very simply, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said to reporters. “If they are charging us 130%, and we’re charging them nothing, it’s not going to stay that way.”

“Every country will be reciprocal,” he added.

Canada’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh warned President Donald Trump and Tesla-founder Elon Musk that Canada will respond to tariffs with tariffs of their own. (CNN)

MEXICO AGREES TO DEPLOY 10,000 TROOPS TO US BORDER IN EXCHANGE FOR TARIFF PAUSE

Trump’s announcement ruffled feathers in Canada, causing the New Democratic Party leader to single out Musk.

“Elon Musk has been very loud. Very vocal attacking our country. We’re not going to let that stand. So if you are going to take a shot at us, we’re going to fight back,” Singh told reporters. “So Elon Musk thinks he can tweet off whatever he wants. Yeah, we’re going to put a tariff on him. I want that to be something that impacts him.”

CNN host Boris Sanchez spoke to Singh on Monday, asking about how Canadians feel about Trump’s talk of bringing Canada in as the 51st state. Singh noted that Canadians are known for being polite, but warned, “don‘t take our kindness for weakness” and said “hell no” to the proposal.

When asked about how he might approach Trump differently than current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Singh argued that he would “fight back” against economic “bully” tactics.

“I believe in being good neighbors and having good relationships, but I believe very firmly Donald Trump only understands force. He‘s acted as a bully in many circumstances, and now he‘s acting as an economic bully. The only language that bullies understand is the language of strength. So we have to show that we‘re ready to fight back,” Singh replied. “We might be smaller. We might be up against a larger opponent, but it‘s going to hurt both of us. It‘s a bad thing to do. It‘s going to hurt Americans. It‘s going to hurt Canadians. We need to show that it‘s the wrong thing to do, and also show that we‘re ready to fight back and defend what we have.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attend the NATO summit at the Grove Hotel on December 4, 2019, in Watford, England. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) / Getty Images)

PALANTIR CEO TOUTS ELON MUSK’S DOGE, ABILITY TO HOLD ‘SACRED COW OF THE DEEP STATE’ ACCOUNTABLE

He added how he would do “dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs” and that Trump had started this fight. Included in his plan to hit back, would be to target Musk specifically, because of his comments about Canada becoming the 51st state.

O’Leary Ventures Chairman Kevin O’Leary shares whether he’s concerned about President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, the fate of the U.S. penny and the handling of the TikTok sale.

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“We just announced today what I would do is put in place a 100% tariff on Tesla, directly targeting Elon Musk. Elon Musk is proudly touting this idea of the 51st state, so let‘s hit back at Elon Musk,” Singh argued. “I‘ve also said we should shut down the supply of critical minerals. Another move that directly targets Elon Musk and his Tesla company, the batteries that he needs require these critical minerals. We‘ve got tools, and we should be ready to use them.”

He added, “It’s not something that we wanted to do, but if Donald Trump wants to bring this fight, know that we are ready. I’m putting Donald Trump on notice.”

February 10, 2025
LARRY KUDLOW: Elon Musk is here to stay — Democrats just have to deal with it

Donald Trump likes Elon Musk, and trusts Elon Musk.

President Trump totally supports the Elon Musk efficiency audit that has already uncovered fraud in numerous areas inside agencies where there’s been spending on items that Congress never mandated.

In fact, Mr. Trump is going to expand Musk’s remit to include auditing the Education Department and the Pentagon. And there may well be more.

Here’s how I put it this morning on Fox News Channel’s Outnumbered.

“The Elon Musk exercise is about systems, and efficiency, and delivery. It is not changing policies on the fly. Hence, there is nothing wrong with an audit… They’re finding judges, okay, who are all slightly to the left of Whoopi Goldberg… There’s nothing constitutional, there’s nothing policy about this.”

– Larry Kudlow, “Outnumbered” on Fox News Channel, February 10

Attorney General Pam Bondi will be moving rapidly to vacate various restraining orders put on many Trump actions, including the Elon Musk payments systems reviews.

Interestingly, none of the left-wing judges opposing Trump have used any case law so far. Department of Justice appeals may have to go all the way up to the Supreme Court. If they do, hopefully the Supremes will act expeditiously.

But the whole point of the Musk operation is transparency and efficiency in spending taxpayer dollars.

Additionally, Elon Musk and DOGE staff are federal government employees. They have been on-boarded, received ethics training and records training, have gotten interim clearances, and, according to Fox News Legal Editor Kerri Urbahn, the idea that career employees can have access to sensitive information — but political appointees should not — is preposterous on its face.

There is nothing unconstitutional about any of this.

Then comes a bunch of former Democratic Treasury Secretaries writing in the New York Times that efficiency audits in the Treasury Department might somehow impede U.S. financial commitments, even reaching into the credit worthiness of Treasury bonds. This is absolute Democratic hogwash.

As current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has found, “controls for spending of the previous [Biden] administration were unacceptable. They were sending money out without knowing where the money was going.”

Last week, Scott Bessent told me on this show in Washington, D.C., “they are moving a lot of people’s cheese here in the Capitol and, when you hear this squawking, then some status quo interest is not happy.”

February 10, 2025