Former US President Donald Trump revealed on Monday that he might offer Elon Musk a position in his administration if he wins the presidential election in November 2024. During an interview with Reuters, Trump was asked about the possibility of Musk taking a prominent position in his administration, either as an advisor or a member of his cabinet. In response, Trump praised Musk, describing him as a “very smart guy,” and added: “I would certainly do it if he wanted to. He's a genius.”
Hours after the interview, tech billionaire Elon Musk shared an AI-generated image on social media of himself speaking on a stage, with American flags in the background, accompanied by the caption: “I am ready to serve.”
I am ready to serve pic.twitter.com/BJhGbcA2e0
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2024
Musk, who has shown increasingly conservative views in recent months, formally endorsed Trump last month and recently interviewed him on his social media platform, known as X (formerly Twitter).
Additionally, during the interview, Trump mentioned that if elected, he might consider eliminating the $7,500 tax credit for purchasing electric cars, noting that “tax credits and incentives are generally not a good thing.” However, Trump has not made a final decision on the matter, noting that he is a “big fan of electric cars,” but is also a big fan of gasoline-powered and hybrid vehicles.
Trump also suggested he could roll back Treasury Department rules that make it easier for automakers to take advantage of the tax credit. Previously, when he was president, Trump tried to eliminate the credit, which President Joe Biden later expanded in 2022.
In addition, Trump has expressed his intention to impose new tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico by the Detroit Big Three and other automakers to discourage exports of these vehicles to American consumers. During his presidency, Trump has made similar threats, saying, “If they put tariffs on these cars, they’ll make them here. It’s very simple, it’s not complicated.”
However, Trump has been open to the possibility of Chinese and other manufacturers building vehicles in the United States, saying he would offer incentives for those companies to set up factories in the country and hire American workers. “We’re going to build our own cars. I want us to build our own cars.”
In a separate note, Trump sharply criticized Google’s parent company, Alphabet, but avoided commenting on whether the company should be broken up after a judge found Google to be an illegal monopoly. “They’re almost like the Wild West,” Trump said of Google, without specifying what penalties the company should face.
Regarding the short video app TikTok, Trump has previously stated that if re-elected, he intends to block the app’s ban, despite a law passed in April setting a January 19, 2025, deadline for Chinese company ByteDance to divest its U.S. assets. When asked if he would accept China’s continued ownership of TikTok, Trump did not directly respond, but suggested that ByteDance could sell the app. “It’s very hard to ban something like that, because we’re talking about freedom of speech,” he said. “We’re talking about a lot of different things that go into that equation, but TikTok has been really good to me.”
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