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Khaleej Times
4 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Musk should stay out of politics, US says Treasury Secretary Bessent
A day after Elon Musk escalated his feud with Donald Trump and announced the formation of a new US political party, the president's Treasury secretary said Musk should stick to running his companies. And investment firm Azoria Partners, which had planned to launch a fund tied to Musk's automaker Tesla, said it was delaying the venture because the party's creation posed "a conflict with his full-time responsibilities as CEO". Musk said on Saturday he was establishing the 'America Party' in response to Trump's tax-cut and spending bill, which Musk claimed would bankrupt the country. Speaking on CNN on Sunday, Treasury chief Scott Bessent said the boards of directors at Musk's companies – Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX – likely would prefer him to stay out of politics. "I imagine that those boards of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities," Bessent said. Musk, who served as a top adviser to the White House on trimming the size of government during the first few months of Trump's presidency, said his new party would in next year's midterm elections look to unseat Republicans in Congress who backed the 'big, beautiful bill'. Musk spent millions of dollars underwriting Trump's re-election effort and for a time, regularly showed up at the president's side in the Oval Office and elsewhere. Their disagreement over the spending bill led to a falling out that Musk briefly tried unsuccessfully to repair. The bill, which cuts taxes and ramps up spending on defense and border security, passed last week on party-line votes in both chambers. Critics argue it will damage the economy by significantly adding to the federal budget deficit. Trump has said Musk is unhappy because the bill, which Trump signed into law on Friday, takes away green-energy credits for Tesla's electric vehicles. The president has threatened to pull billions of dollars Tesla and SpaceX receive in government contracts and subsidies in response to Musk's criticism. Bessent suggested Musk holds little sway with voters who, he said, liked his Department of Government Efficiency more than him. 'The principles of DOGE were very popular,' Bessent said. 'I think if you looked at the polling, Elon was not.' Investor rebuke Musk's announcement immediately brought a rebuke from Azoria Partners, which said on Saturday it will postpone the listing of its Azoria Tesla Convexity exchange-traded fund. Azoria was set to launch the Tesla ETF this week. Azoria CEO James Fishback posted on X several critical comments about the new party and reiterated his support for Trump. "I encourage the Board to meet immediately and ask Elon to clarify his political ambitions and evaluate whether they are compatible with his full-time obligations to Tesla as CEO," Fishback said. On Sunday, Fishback added on X, "Elon left us with no other choice." The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Musk's announcement, but Stephen Miran, the chairman of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers, defended the bill on ABC's 'This Week'. 'The one, big, beautiful bill is going to create growth on turbo charge,' Miran said.
The National
4 hours ago
- The National
US 'close to several trade deals before Trump tariff deadline'
The US is close to closing several trade deals ahead of a July 9 deadline when higher tariffs begin, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday. Mr Bessent said a number of announcements were likely to be made in the coming days. 'We're going to be very busy over the next 72 hours,' Mr Bessent told CNN's State of the Union. US President Donald Trump would be sending about 100 letters to encourage trading partners to 'move things along' or face heightened tariffs on August 1, he added. Mr Bessent said the Trump administration was focused on 18 important trading partners that account for 95 per cent of the US trade deficit, but noted there had been 'a lot of foot-dragging' among countries in getting closure on a trade deal. On April 2, which Mr Trump called ' Liberation Day ', the US announced a series of 'reciprocal' tariffs on trading partners. Some announced levies were as high as 50 per cent, with a blanket 10 per cent tariff on all countries. The news sent financial markets into a tailspin and Mr Trump soon after issued a 90-day pause to allow for negotiations. 'I think we're going to see a lot of deals very quickly,' Mr Bessent said, denying that August 1 was a new deadline. 'We are saying this is when it's happening. If you want to speed things up, have at it. If you want to go back to the old rate, that's your choice.' Speaking in Maryland on Friday, Mr Trump said that he would notify 10 to 12 nations a day by letter over the course of the next five days, detailing their new tariffs. 'They'll range in value from maybe 60 per cent or 70 per cent tariffs to 10 per cent and 20 per cent tariffs, but they're going to be starting to go out sometime tomorrow,' Mr Trump said. 'We've done the final form, and it's basically going to explain what the countries are going to be paying in tariffs.' Mr Trump last week lauded a trade deal with Vietnam, which had been threatened with a 46 per cent tariff, and he has said the US is close to a deal with India. Since taking office, Mr Trump has set off a global trade war that has upended financial markets and sent policymakers scrambling to guard their economies, including through deals with Washington and other countries.
Khaleej Times
5 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
New US tariff rates to kick in August 1 barring trade deals: Treasury Secretary
US tariffs will kick off on August 1 if trading partners from Taiwan to the European Union do not strike deals with Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday. The rates will "boomerang back" to the sometimes very high levels which President Donald Trump announced on April 2 before he suspended the levies to allow for trade talks and set a July 9 deadline for agreement, Bessent told CNN. US President Donald Trump earlier said he had signed letters to 12 countries outlining the various tariff levels they would face on goods they export to the United States, with the "take it or leave it" offers to be sent out on Monday. The 90-day pause that Trump announced in April is set to end on July 9, and he said tariffs could be even higher than the earlier announced rates, when they go into effect August 1. The only trade agreements reached to date are with Britain, which reached a deal in May to keep a 10 per cent rate and won preferential treatment for some sectors including autos and aircraft engines, and with Vietnam, cutting tariffs on many Vietnamese goods to 20 per cent from his previously threatened 46 per cent. Many US products would be allowed to enter Vietnam duty free. Earlier, a deal expected with India had failed to materialise, and EU diplomats said they failed to achieve a breakthrough in trade negotiations.
