When children of wealthy families reach adulthood, they often benefit from the largesse of parents in the form of a trust fund. It’s another way they get a leg up on less affluent peers, who may receive nothing at all — or even be expected to support their families.

But what if all children — regardless of their family’s circumstances — could get a financial boost when they turn 18?

That’s the idea behind a House GOP proposal backed by President Donald Trump. It would create tax-deferred investment accounts — coined “Trump Accounts” — for babies born in the U.S. over the next four years, starting them each with $1,000. At age 18, they could withdraw the money to put toward a down payment for a home, education or to start a small business. If the money is used for other purposes, it’ll be taxed at a higher rate.

“This is a pro-family initiative that will help millions of Americans harness the strength of our economy to lift up the next generation,” Trump said at a White House event Monday for the proposal. “They’ll really be getting a big jump on life, especially if we get a little bit lucky with some of the numbers and the economy.”

While the investment would be symbolically meaningful, it’s a relatively small financial commitment to addressing child poverty in the wider $7 trillion federal budget. Assuming a 7% return, the $1,000 would grow to roughly $3,570 over 18 years.

It builds on the concept of “ baby bonds,” which two states — California and Connecticut — and the District of Columbia have introduced as a way to reduce gaps between wealthy people and poor people.

At at time when wealth inequality has soured some young people on capitalism, giving them a stake in Wall Street could be the antidote, said Utah Republican Rep. Blake Moore, who led the effort to get the initiative into a massive House spending bill.

“We know that America’s economic engine is working, but not everyone feels connected to its value and the ways it can benefit them,” Moore wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner. “If we can demonstrate to our next generation the benefits of investing and financial health, we can put them on a path toward prosperity.”

Families of all income levels could receive ‘Trump Accounts’

The bill would require at least one parent to produce a Social Security number with work authorizations, meaning the U.S. citizen children born to some categories of immigrants would be excluded from the benefit. But unlike other baby bond programs, which generally target disadvantaged groups, this one would be available to families of all incomes.

Economist Darrick Hamilton of The New School, who first pitched the idea of baby bonds a quarter-century ago, said the GOP proposal would exacerbate rather than reduce wealth gaps. When he dreamed up baby bonds, he envisioned a program that would be universal but would give children from poor families a larger endowment than their wealthier peers, in an attempt to level the playing field. The money would be handled by the government, not by private firms on Wall Street.

“It is upside down,” Hamilton said. “It’s going to enhance inequality.”

Hamilton added that $1,000 — even with interest — would not be enough to make a significant difference for a child living in poverty.

A Silicon Valley investor who created the blueprint for the proposal, Brad Gerstner, said in an interview with CNBC last year that the accounts could help address the wealth gap and the loss of faith in capitalism that represent an existential crisis for the U.S.

“The rise and fall of nations occurs when you have a wealth gap that grows, when you have people who lose faith in the system,” Gerstner said. “We’re not agentless. We can do something.”

Critics say poor families have more immediate needs

The proposal comes as Congressional Republicans and Trump face backlash for proposed cuts to programs that poor families with children rely on, including food assistance and Medicaid.

Even some who back the idea of baby bonds are skeptical, noting Trump wants to cut higher education grants and programs that aid young people on the cusp of adulthood — the same age group Trump Accounts are supposed to help. Pending federal legislation would slash Medicaid and food and housing assistance that many families with children rely on.

Young adults who grew up in poverty often struggle with covering basics like rent and transportation — expenses that Trump Accounts could not be tapped to cover, said Eve Valdez, an advocate for youth in foster care in southern California. Valdez, a former foster youth, said she was homeless when she turned 18.

Accounts for newborn children that cannot be accessed for 18 years mean little to families struggling to meet basic needs today, said Shimica Gaskins of End Child Poverty California.

“Having children have health care, having their families have access to SNAP and food are what we really need … the country focused on,” Gaskins said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on the two fugitive sons of incarcerated Mexican Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and announced a reward offer of up to $10 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the men.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar who are believed to be currently located in Mexico.

Guzman’s other sons — Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Ovidio Guzman Lopez — are currently incarcerated in the United States. In May, federal prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty for Joaquin Guzman Lopez if he’s convicted of multiple charges in Chicago.

Sanctions were also imposed on a faction of the Sinaloa cartel known as the “Chapitos,” or little Chapos, which has been identified as a main exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. as well as a regional network of Chapitos associates and businesses based in Mazatlan, Mexico, that allegedly engage in drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering.

According to federal prosecutors, El Chapo smuggled mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States over 25 years. He was convicted in 2019 on multiple conspiracy counts and sentenced to life in a U.S. prison.

“At the Department of the Treasury, we are executing on President Trump’s mandate to completely eliminate drug cartels and take on violent leaders like ‘El Chapo’s’ children,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

The Sinaloa Cartel, through various incarnations, is Mexico’s oldest criminal group, dating to the 1970s. One of their most lucrative businesses in recent years has been the production of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year in the U.S. The Trump administration in February labeled the Sinaloa cartel a foreign terrorist organizations.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• Elon Musk reshared two posts from Trump on Sunday amid protests in LA.
• It comes days after the feud between the two men reached a peak.
• Musk also shared an image of a masked protester waving a Mexican flag, writing: "This is not ok."

Elon Musk is back to cheering President Donald Trump on — for now.

On Sunday night, amid protests in the Los Angeles area, Musk posted a screenshot of a Truth Social post from Trump denouncing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass.

The president and his allies have cast the ongoing demonstrations, which began in response to immigration raids, as an "insurrection." His administration ordered the deployment of 2,000 National Guard members to the LA area over Newsom's objections.

Earlier on Sunday night, Musk reposted a Truth Social post screenshot from Vice President JD Vance about the administration's response, adding two American flag emojis.

He also shared an image of a masked protester waving a Mexican flag on top of a damaged vehicle, writing: "This is not ok."

The posts come just days after the feud between Musk and Trump reached a fever pitch last week. At one point, Musk approvingly shared a post suggesting that Trump be impeached, while Trump floated revoking Musk's companies' government contracts.

The public fighting between the two men largely subsided over the weekend, and Musk deleted some of his posts, including one declaring that Trump was in the "Epstein files."

Trump has said that he has no plans to repair his relationship with Musk.

The feud began after Musk departed his role as the informal leader of the White House DOGE Office, with the tech titan criticizing Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" for adding trillions to the deficit over the next 10 years.

• Ark Invest's Cathie Wood has weighed in on the public feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
• Wood said the feud reveals how much Musk's companies rely on the US government.
• Trump said Saturday he had no desire to fix his relationship with the Tesla CEO.

The public feud between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump has shown investors just how much control the US government has over Musk's companies, Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood says.

"I think the way this is evolving is Elon, Tesla, and investors are beginning to understand more and more just how much the government has control here," Wood said in a video posted to the company's YouTube channel on Friday.

Many of Musk's companies have key links to the government and have received billions of dollars in federal loans, contracts, tax credits, and subsidies over the years.

"Elon is involved in companies that are depending on the government," Wood said, pointing to Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink as examples.

SpaceX's COO, Gwynne Shotwell, said last year that the company has $22 billion worth of federal contracts. Neuralink, Musk's brain chip company, is subject to FDA regulation, and a less friendly regulatory environment could impact Tesla's robotaxi rollout plans. Tesla stock fell more than 14% on Thursday after Musk and Trump became locked in a series of increasingly bitter clashes.

The feud appeared to begin, at least publicly, on Tuesday, after Musk criticized Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill." He called it a "disgusting abomination" and said it would increase the national budget deficit.

Tensions rose fast between the once-close allies on Thursday. Trump threatened to cut Musk's government contracts and Musk said SpaceX would immediately begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft — which returned stranded NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station in March.

Musk later retracted that threat, which Wood said was a sign he was "beginning to walk this back."

Wood said the rift with Trump could, in part, be Musk's attempt to further decouple himself from the Trump administration. Musk announced in April that he would be stepping back from his government work.

"One of the hypotheses out there is that what has happened was partly — not entirely — orchestrated," Wood said. "Clearly, there has been some brand damage to Tesla, which he readily admits, and I think he's trying to disengage from the government and being associated with one party or the other."

Moving forward, Wood said neither Trump nor Musk needed to get "bogged down" with a fight and that she believed both would eventually heed that reasoning.

She also appeared to be confident that Musk could make the situation work for him. She said Musk "works really well under pressure" and that "he creates a lot of that chaos and pressure himself."

Trump, however, signaled Saturday that he had no desire to fix his relationship with the SpaceX CEO anytime soon.

"I have no intention of speaking to him," Trump told NBC News.

"I think it's a very bad thing, because he's very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the President," he added.

Vice President JD Vance struck a somewhat friendlier tone when asked about the possibility of reconciliation during a Thursday interview with podcaster Theo Von.

Vance said that while he thought it was a "huge mistake" for Musk to "go after the president," he hoped Musk "figures it out" and "comes back into the fold."

"I want to make a big announcement," said Faryar Shirzad, the chief policy officer of Coinbase, to a nearly empty room. His words echoed across the massive hall at the Bitcoin Conference, deep in the caverns of The Venetian Expo in Las Vegas, and it wasn't apparent how many people were watching on the livestream. Then again, somebody out there may have been interested in the panelists he was interviewing, one of whom was unusual by Bitcoin Conference standards: Chris LaCivita, the political consultant who'd co-chaired Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

"I am super proud to say it on this stage," Shirzad continued, addressing the dozens of people scattered across 5,000 chairs. "We have just become a major sponsor of the America250 effort."

My jaw dropped. Coinbase, the world's largest crypto exchange, the owner of 12 percent of the world's Bitcoin supply, and listed on the S&P 500, was paying for Trump to hold a military parade.

No wonder they made the announcement in an empty room. Today was "Code and Country": an entire day of MAGA-themed panels on the Nakamoto Main Stage, full of Republican legislators, White House officials, and political operatives, all of whom pr …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Senate Commerce Republicans have kept a ten year moratorium on state AI laws in their latest version of President Donald Trump's massive budget package. And a growing number of lawmakers and civil society groups warn that its broad language could put consumer protections on the chopping block.

Republicans who support the provision, which the House cleared as part of its "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," say it will help ensure AI companies aren't bogged down by a complicated patchwork of regulations. But opponents warn that should it survive a vote and a congressional rule that might prohibit it, Big Tech companies could be exempted from state legal guardrails for years to come, without any promise of federal standards to take their place.

"What this moratorium does is prevent every state in the country from having basic regulations to protect workers and to protect consumers," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), whose district includes Silicon Valley, tells The Verge in an interview. He warns that as written, the language included in the House-passed budget reconciliation package could restrict state laws that attempt to regulate social media companies, prevent algorithmic rent discrimination, …

Read the full story at The Verge.

• The friendship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump publicly unravelled on Thursday.
• It all started when Musk criticized Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."
• Here's what business leaders like Mark Cuban and Bill Ackman have to say about the breakup.

Amid a dramatic falling out between Donald Trump and his "first buddy," Elon Musk, some of the business world's most influential voices are weighing in.

The relationship between the president and his once-close ally imploded on Thursday as they clashed publicly over Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."

Musk, who stepped down from his role at DOGE in May, took to X to criticize the bill, calling it the "Debt Slavery Bill" and the "Big Ugly Spending Bill."

In response, Trump fired back at Musk during a White House event. He also defended the bill on Truth Social, while threatening to cancel Musk's government contracts.

Musk saw his net worth fall by $34 billion on Thursday, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Tesla shares were also down by more than 14%.

Here's what several business leaders have to say about the row.

Mark Cuban

Amid his feud with Trump, Musk proposed creating a new political party for "the middle" in a poll on X.

Mark Cuban appeared to endorse the idea, quoting Musk's post and replying with three check marks.

The former "Shark Tank" star previously said he's "not a fan of either party," but would run as a Republican if he wanted to join politics.

Bill Ackman

Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman voiced his support for both Trump and Musk on X, calling on the two to put aside their differences and "make peace for the benefit of our country."

Ackman, who had endorsed Trump for his 2024 presidential bid, wrote: "We are much stronger together than apart."

"You're not wrong," Musk responded.

Paul Graham

Paul Graham, cofounder of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, also weighed in on the public feud between the president and the Tesla CEO.

"A lot of people seem to be treating this as if it were just a beef. But the underlying allegation is a very serious one. If it's true, Trump is surely going to have to resign," he wrote in a post on X.

Graham did not specify what allegation he was referring to.

Hours before Graham made his post, Musk went on X and accused Trump of withholding information about Jeffrey Epstein.

"Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!" Musk wrote on X.

Graham told Musk in February that he should work with the government "carefully" because it's not "just a company."

A representative for Graham did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Donald Trump and Elon Musk had a public fallout on Thursday after Musk criticized Trump's tax bill.
• Bill Ackman and Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, took to X to urge the duo to end their public feud.
• "Broooos please noooooo. We love you both so much," Ye wrote on X.

For some, watching Donald Trump and Elon Musk fall out is like watching your favorite power couple break up — and Bill Ackman and Ye really don't want that happening.

The billionaire hedge fund manager and the hip-hop mogul took to X to share their thoughts.

Ackman urged Trump and Musk to reconcile and continue working together.

"I support @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk and they should make peace for the benefit of our great country. We are much stronger together than apart," Ackman wrote in his post, which is now pinned to the top of his X profile.

Musk responded to Ackman's post. "You're not wrong," the Tesla CEO wrote.

Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, took a different approach.

"Broooos please noooooo. We love you both so much," Ye wrote on X, with an emoji of two people hugging.

Musk and Trump's relationship has taken a sharp turn.

Shortly after Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt at a rally in July, Musk took to X to declare his endorsement of Trump's presidential bid. He later stood by Trump's side at Mar-a-Lago on election night, celebrating his victory.

In November, Trump said Musk would help lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, which was tasked with cutting federal spending.

Early in Trump's second term, Musk was a regular fixture at the White House. At one point, the Tesla CEO brought his son, X Æ A-XII, to the Oval Office.

But in May, Musk began distancing himself from the administration.

Then on Thursday, it all came crashing down: Musk and Trump had a very public falling out, trading barbs on their respective social media platforms.

Musk, who left his role at DOGE last week, took to X to criticize Trump's tax bill in a flurry of posts, branding it the "Big Ugly Spending Bill."

Trump then fired back during a White House event, expressing his disappointment in Musk and dismissing the criticism as a case of "Trump Derangement Syndrome," before turning to Truth Social to defend his tax bill.

Representatives for Ackman and Ye did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider outside regular hours.

• Elon Musk predicted Trump's tariffs will trigger a recession later this year.
• Musk's comment comes amid a growing public fallout with the president.
• Wall Street has expressed similar concerns over Trump's tariffs.

Elon Musk predicted Donald Trump's tariffs will send the economy into recession, one of many verbal barbs the tech billionaire threw at the president on Thursday as their relationship collapsed into acrimony.

"The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year," Musk wrote on X while reposting another tweet that called Trump's tariffs "super stupid."

The morning began with Trump saying he was disappointed by Musk's opposition to his "One Big Beautiful Bill" during a press appearance to welcome the German Chancellor to the White House.

The feud intensified when Musk called out Trump's "ingratitude," and suggested establishing a new political party. The SpaceX cofounder also proposed decommissioning the company's Dragon spacecraft after Trump threatened to cut his government contracts, although Musk backed off that idea pretty quickly on X.

Fractures between the two emerged after Musk left his role recently at the White House. On Tuesday, Musk blasted the Republicans' tax-and-spending-cut bill, which Trump helped to shepherd through the House, calling it "pork-filled'" and a "disgusting abomination."

Musk isn't alone in criticizing the potential fiscal impact of this legislation. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated it could increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over a decade.

Other experts also agree with Musk that Trump's tariffs could have a negative impact on the US economy.

JPMorgan predicted a 60% chance of a US recession after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on April 2. The bank adjusted the possibility down to below 50% recently after Trump paused most of his highest tariffs.

In a March interview with Fox News, Trump had also declined to rule out the possibility of a recession.

"I hate to predict things like that," said Trump.

"There is a period of transition," he added, "because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing back wealth to America. That's a big thing, and there are always periods of, it takes a little time, it takes a little time."

• Elon Musk said SpaceX will decommission its Dragon spacecraft immediately amid his feud with Trump.
• The announcement came after Trump said canceling Musk's government contracts would save money.
• SpaceX's Dragon ships are used in NASA missions to the International Space Station.

Elon Musk's feud with President Donald Trump has officially reached orbit.

Musk said in a post on X Thursday that SpaceX "will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately" in light of Trump's statement that floated canceling the billionaire's government contracts and subsidies.

The SpaceX CEO included a screenshot of Trump's earlier Truth Social post, which said terminating Musk's government contracts would be the "easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars."

Musk walked that decision back around five hours later.

"This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days," X user Fab25june wrote on the platform.

"Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon," Musk said.

SpaceX's Dragon spaceships are used to transport NASA astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station.

In a statement to Business Insider, Bethany Stevens, NASA press secretary, said: "NASA will continue to execute upon the President's vision for the future of space. We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President's objectives in space are met."

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The comments came as the feud between the former allies exploded on Thursday, with Trump and Musk publicly trading insults on their respective social media platforms, Truth Social and X.

Musk's government contracts are worth billions, with SpaceX working closely with NASA. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, designed to be reusable, can carry up to seven passengers to and from orbit and is the first private spacecraft to transport humans to and from the ISS, the company says.

Since 2020, NASA has relied on SpaceX's Dragon to transport astronauts to and from orbit. The agency, which retired its space shuttle program in 2011, depended on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for crewed missions prior to partnering with SpaceX.

In 2024, NASA announced SpaceX was awarded a $843 million contract to help decommission the ISS by the early 2030s. The plan involved using a larger, super-powered Dragon spaceship to push the ISS out of orbit, eventually landing in a remote part of the ocean. NASA planned to transition to using privately-owned space stations in the future.

Steve Bannon, who served as the White House chief strategist in Trump's first term, said in an interview Thursday that Trump should act immediately in response to Musk's announcement about decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft.

"President Trump tonight should sign an executive order calling for the Defense Production Act," Bannon said, referring to a federal law that grants the president authority to influence or control domestic industry in the name of national defense,"and seize SpaceX tonight before midnight."

• Elon Musk and Donald Trump's friendship unraveled publicly over a tax bill dispute.
• Musk criticized Trump's tax bill, calling it the 'Big Ugly Spending Bill.'
• Here's how their recently fragile friendship fractured on Thursday, minute-by-minute.

Twenty-five minutes of live TV, more than a dozen posts on X, and three posts on Truth Social over the period of five hours (and counting) — that's how the already fractured friendship of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump publicly unraveled on Thursday.

The first signs of trouble began when Musk showed opposition to Trump's spending bill, the "One Big Beautiful Bill," though he never explicitly targeted Trump.

"Shame on those who voted for it," Musk tweeted on Tuesday, referring to Congress members who voted for Trump's tax cut bill.

Trump, for his part, had stayed uncharacteristically mum about Musk's criticism of the bill.

But that all changed on Thursday morning.

Here is a minute-by-minute breakdown of how the relationship between two of the most powerful men on the planet devolved.

11:20 a.m. ET

Musk began digging up Trump's old posts on what was then Twitter about the deficit, including one from January of 2013.

11:46 a.m. ET

Musk unearthed another old X post by Trump from back in July 2012, presumably as a swipe at the new Republican tax bill that many economists and the congressional Budget Office said would increase the country's deficits.

12 p.m. ET

Trump responded to Musk's attacks for the first time when answering press questions during a White House event to welcome German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

"And you know Elon's upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles," said Trump. "And they're having a hard time, the electric vehicles. And they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy. Elon knew this from the beginning; he knew it from a long time ago."

12:07 p.m. ET

Trump's comments about Musk continued at the press appearance.

"He knew every aspect of this bill — better than almost anybody —and he never had a problem until right after he left," said Trump. "He said the most beautiful things about me. He hasn't said bad things about me personally, but I'm sure that'll be next. But I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot."

"People leave my administration, and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it, and some of them actually become hostile," Trump continued.

"I don't know what it is. It's sort of Trump derangement syndrome, I guess they call it, but we have it with others, too. They leave and they wake up in the morning, and the glamour's gone. The whole world is different, and they become hostile," he added.

12:25 p.m. ET

Musk began a whirlwind of tweets soon after, responding in near real time to what Trump said during the press appearance.

"False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!" Musk posed on X.

12:46 p.m. ET

Musk then began a series of tweets directed at the president beyond the bill, including saying that without him, Republicans would have lost.

1:57 p.m. ET

Musk polls his X followers about creating a new political party "that actually represents the 80% in the middle." Mark Cuban quoted the post with three checkmarks.

2:23 p.m. ET

Musk gives Trump's bill — known on paper as the "One Big Beautiful Bill" — a new name: "Big Ugly Spending Bill."

2:37 p.m. ET

Trump responds to Musk with two consecutive posts on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

"Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!" Trump wrote.

"The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!" the president continued.

2:48 p.m. ET

Musk responds to Trump's posts on Truth Social, calling them "such an obvious lie."

2:49 p.m. ET

A minute later, Musk appeared to dare Trump to cancel government contracts with his companies.

3:10 p.m. ET

Musk makes another accusation.

4:06 p.m. ET

Trump posts on Truth Social again to defend his tax bill.

"I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress," Trump wrote.

"It's a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. If this Bill doesn't pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn't create this mess, I'm just here to FIX IT," Trump added.

4:09 p.m. ET

Musk says SpaceX will decommission its Dragon spacecraft "immediately."

SpaceX's Dragon spaceships transport NASA astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station. Prior to partnering with SpaceX, the agency depended on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for crewed missions.

4:26 p.m. ET

Musk says that Trump's tariffs will "cause a recession in the second half of this year."

Some economists have also predicted that Trump's tariffs would hurt the economy, and Trump himself declined to rule out the chances of a recession back in March.

JPMorgan had predicted a 60% chance of a US recession after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on April 2. The bank adjusted the possibility down to below 50% recently after Trump paused most of his highest tariffs.

4:43 p.m. ET

Musk retweeted what appears to be a video of Trump partying with Epstein from the 1990s, doubling down on his earlier statement about the Epstein files.

"This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Business Insider in a statement. "The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again."

Representatives for Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

A walkback

Musk took a softer tone later on Thursday night.

Some five hours after his post about decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft, he walked back the decision in a response to an X user.

"This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days," X user Fab25june wrote on the platform.

"Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon," Musk wrote at 9:20 p.m.

In a separate exchange on X, billionaire investor Bill Ackman encouraged Musk and Trump to make up.

"I support @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk and they should make peace for the benefit of our great country. We are much stronger together than apart," Ackman wrote.

"You're not wrong," Musk responded at 9:27 p.m.

• Elon Musk's latest feud with Trump began with an X post, criticizing the GOP's spending bill.
• Tesla shares were down 14% by the market's close, wiping out $138B of the company's worth.
• Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates that about $34 billion was erased from Musk's net worth.

We can now put a price on Elon Musk's very public breakup with President Donald Trump.

Musk's net worth dropped by $34 billion on Thursday, one of the worst single-day wipeouts of his personal wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Until Thursday, Musk had mostly kept his criticism geared toward the GOP's "big beautiful bill." Everything changed once Musk's rant against the president turned personal.

Musk denied Trump's characterization that Musk was only critical of the bill because it would remove tax credits that benefit Tesla. He then went further in his tirade, digging up old tweets from the president that appeared to back the CEO's views, accusing Trump of having ties with the late financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and taking credit for helping Trump win the 2024 election.

"This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to BI's inquiry regarding Musk's Epstein post. "The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again."

Trump responded with his own barbs, threatening to cancel federal contracts with Musk's companies.

Musk said he'd immediately decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft in response to Trump's threat.

Tesla shares plummeted more than 14%, representing about a $138 billion wipeout of the company's total market cap.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated that $34 billion from Musk's net worth was wiped out after Thursday's fallout, representing one of the CEO's biggest single-day losses.

In November 2021, Musk put up a poll on Twitter, asking his followers if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock. More than 57% of 3.5 million responders said, "Yes."

The post triggered a 16% decline in Tesla shares that week, leading to a $50 billion loss in the executive's net worth.

Musk, for his part, has insisted that his social media posts don't impact his companies' worth.

However, the Securities and Exchange Commission has begged to differ.

The SEC sued Musk as a consequence of his infamous 2018 tweet in which he said he would take Tesla private at $420.

The settlement that followed included a $20 million fine and a stipulation that required Musk to get legal approval for any social media posts about Tesla. The arrangement became known as Musk's "Twitter sitter."

Musk has tried and failed to strike down the arrangement, taking his case to the Supreme Court in 2023. It rejected his appeal last April.

Musk and a spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.