- Elon Musk Friday visit to Pentagon aroused criticism and underlined the bonds of its companies with the federal government and China. The billionaire SPACEX rocket company has $ 22 billion in contracts with the federal government. In China, Tesla de Musk uses her largest factory, Gigafactory Shanghai, which, to date, has produced about half of all Tesla vehicles.
Elon Musk visited the Pentagon on Friday for a Briefing on China which underlined the growing influence of the billionaire in the Trump administration as well as the deep ties of its companies with the federal government and China.
Musk was originally intended to receive a briefing on top secret information linked to a potential war with China, The New York Times reportedAlthough defense officials later declared that he would receive an undertook briefing, according to the Wall Street Journal. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth and President Trump, both denied that Musk had visited the Pentagon to receive top secret information on a possible war with China, as reported by the Times Before Musk’s visit on Friday.
Before journalists from the oval office, Trump noted that Musk would not see top secret information on a potential war with China, and mentioned that the billionaire companies could play a role.
“We do not want to have a potential war with China, but I can tell you that if we have done so, we are very well equipped to manage it, but I don’t want to show it to anyone, but you would certainly not show it to a businessman,” Trump said. “Elon has companies in China and he might be sensitive to this.”
Whatever information he received (he replied “Why should I tell you?” To the question of a journalist on the subject of Reunion), the potential high level nature of his visit to the Pentagon has a meticulous examination.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (DN.Y.), who is also a principal member of the Senate armed services committee, wrote in an article that Musk should not have been at the Pentagon.
“Elon Musk is an unleashed and interested billionaire without any business near the Pentagon,” wrote Gillibrand in a job on X.
It is not known if other defense companies would include prosecution according to Musk’s access, but even if they do it, it is doubtful that they prevail in court, said the law professor at the University of Western Reserve, Anat Alon-Beck.
“No one has promised equal access to this type of information,” said Alon-Beck Fortune. “We have always had people – with the previous administrations also – have access to others who do not. It is therefore not only a musk. ”
However, Musk’s companies have deep links with China. Its manufacturer of Tesla electric vehicles has been selling vehicles in the country for a decade and Musk has often talked about the country positively. In 2023, during an audio interview with American legislators on its social media network X, the CEO said that he was “pro-china”.
“I have interests acquired in China but honestly, I think China is underestimated and I think that the inhabitants of China are really great and there is a lot of positive energy there”, he said at the time.
Among its “acquired interests” and its implications with China are as follows:
- The largest Tesla factory, Gigafactory Shanghai, is located in China. Half of Tesla’s vehicles worldwide were made from it from last year.
- Despite a recent 49% drop in deliveriesChina is still one of Tesla’s largest markets behind the United States
- The Chinese government would have been “Insurance sought“This musk would not sell Starlink in China, the Financial time reported. Last year, Musk told companies that made Starlink components in Taiwan to move manufacturing to other countries because of “geopolitical concerns. “”
In the United States, SpaceX is a major government entrepreneur with around $ 22 billion in government contracts, According to his CEO. Its subsidiary, Starlink, helps the Pentagon to provide Internet access to remote environments.
Tesla, for its part, received $ 11.4 billion in regulatory credits for federal governments and states, according to a Washington Post analysis. Cumulatively, musk companies have received $ 38 billion in public contracts, loans, grants and tax credits to return 20 years, the Job reported.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
