Elon Musk’s Fight With Trump Threatens $48 Billion in Government Contracts

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025.Photograph: ALLISON ROBBERT/Getty Images

Elon Musk’s business empire, including SpaceX, Starlink, and Tesla collectively stands to lose at least $48 billion in sales over roughly the next decade if President Donald Trump acts on his veiled threat to cancel the companies’ contracts with the US government, according to a WIRED review of publicly available data. Amid growing criticism from Musk on Thursday about the federal budget, Trump said that “the easiest way to save money” would be “to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”