Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (left), and Javier Milei, President of Argentina. AP Yonhap News.
As the conflict between U.S. President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk escalates, Musk has indirectly criticized Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” by citing the success of fiscal austerity policies under Argentina’s Javier Milei government, reported Argentine dailies La Nacion and Perfil on the 8th (local time).
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” is a budget bill introduced in 2017 during Trump’s first term, set to expire at the end of this year, which extends major tax cuts and increases the debt limit by $5 trillion (about KRW 6,795 trillion). Experts have expressed concerns that passing the bill would significantly increase the U.S. deficit.
La Nacion explained that Musk attacked Trump’s budget bill by sharing a post on X, expressing his ideological alignment with President Milei’s austerity policies.
The post shared by Musk stated, “Milei reduced public spending by 30% and achieved a surplus in just one month. His popularity hasn’t decreased; instead, it has risen. Don’t say fiscal discipline is unpopular with average citizens. It’s just unpopular with the powerful special interest groups that dominate Washington.”
At the end of the post, a photo of President Milei, who is currently campaigning for reelection, was featured with his trademark “chainsaw” alongside his brother.
Musk has been interested in Milei’s “chainsaw” fiscal austerity pledge since Milei was a presidential candidate, and they strengthened their ties by meeting multiple times at various locations after Milei’s inauguration.
They met again on February 20 in Maryland, USA, at a conservative meeting, where President Milei presented Musk with a chainsaw, which had become a symbol of his campaign that elected him President in the 2023 Argentine election.
Musk, like the “chainsaw” policy of Milei, led government spending cuts as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during the Trump administration.
President Milei, known as the “Trump of Argentina,” after taking office, drastically reduced fiscal spending by cutting the number of central departments from 18 to 8 and dismissing about 40,000 public servants, reducing fiscal spending by approximately 30%.
U.S. President Donald Trump stated on the 7th (local time) regarding the conflict with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, “My relationship with him is over.” President Trump also warned that “there will be serious consequences” if Musk supports Democratic politicians. The relationship between the two, who had displayed a “bromance” during the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, ended in disaster.
The background of the rift between Trump and Musk, who once boasted a “bromance,” includes an ideological gulf between the “MAGA (traditional Trump base)” and “Tech Right (emerging support base centered around technology and capital elites)” camps. The unstable alliance was formed ahead of the 2024 presidential election, but now has ended.