Trump-Musk allyship defies predictions

March 17, 2025

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Welcome to Hill's Business & Economy Newsletter

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Business and economy

big story

Trump Mask's Alliance is contrary to predictions

There is a partnership between President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk It was against the prediction Republicans and Democrats alike saw the pair as destined to drop out.

©AP

Skeptics argued that Trump cannot stand sharing the spotlight with Musk, the world's wealthiest person.

Over 50 days In the second Trump administration, the highly scrutinized relationship between the pair shows no signs of real tension.

Sources close to the White House still questioned what would happen if Musk had a special government employee status. Expired End of May. However, the two men have developed strong bonds in mutually beneficial relationships.

“I think Trump really agrees with the Doge approach,” said one source close to the White House. “He loves being able to say, 'These IQ geniuses who went to these great schools do this.' ”

Even when Trump pushed Musk back, it was Relatively gentle.

Musk was modest to Cabinet officials about reducing the size of the federal workforce during last week's meeting. It peaked in Trump, where ministerial leaders, not masks, were in charge of their division, but the president provided warnings that if the agency heads did not take action, masks would intervene.

Brett Samuels of the Hill is here more.

Welcome to the hill Business and Economy NewsletterI'm Alice Foley. It covers the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Street.

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A real reading

Major business and economic news with more impacts than this week:

Trump praises Jeff Bezos' move with the Washington Post

President Trump has offered rare praise for media executive, Amazon billionaire founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, hinting at many changes he has made to the newspapers in recent months.

The complete story

Bescent says there is no guarantee about the recession.

Treasury Director Scott Bescent said on Sunday that there is “no guarantee” about the recession.

The complete story

Mark Kelly promotes new SUV after saying he's dumping Tesla

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) promoted his new vehicle on Sunday after he announced last week that he would dump Tesla before and after an ongoing back and forth with electric car company CEO Elon Musk.

The complete story

Universities that are unstable as Trump use research funds as wedges

The Trump administration is calling for the intertwining of university finances and government funds to place schools in a short chain tied to their research capabilities.

The complete story

Tax Watch

Senators say they and Trump agree to the policy baseline

Welcome to Tax Watcha new feature focused on the fight for tax reform and pushes to extend Trump's tax cuts in 2017.

Republican senators on the finance committee say they agree President Trump The use of so-called policy baselines in settlement bills is an assumption from accounting that will allow trillions of additional deficits to be ignored over the next decade.

“From my point of view, we agree,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters last week. “Even at home, I think they'll accept that in terms of what we send back to them.”

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who attended a meeting with Trump last week, reportedly Confirmed Trump's support He also said the president is riding on its contentious policy assumptions.

Some Republicans in Congress have it I was pushed back To the assumption of policy baselines that support standard current legal frameworks, some describe policy baselines as fraud.

“Both Smith and Arlington are skeptical that such a move will be permitted under Senate rules,” the Beacon Policy Advisor wrote in an analysis Monday about the methods and measures regarding Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and the chairman of Budget Committee Joe Day Arlington (R-Texas).

“A small number of fiscal conservatives in the House have expressed reservations on current policy baselines, calling them a mechanism that blurs the impact of the settlement bill's deficit,” they wrote.

– Tobias Burns

It's approaching

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In other news

Fork in more stories of the day:

Trump has appointed Bowman as the top regulator of the Federal Reserve Bank

President Donald Trump appointed Michelle Bowman to oversee the Federal Reserve on Monday…

The complete story

It's good to know

Business and Economic News we flagged from other outlets:

Dow 500 points jumpthe S&P 500 rises on the second day.CNBC))
Russia says Putin talks with Trump Just as we encourage a ceasefire in Ukraine (Bloomberg))
More Canadians Don't step into the US “without connections or even layovers” (NBC News))

What others are reading

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President Trump says he is “disappointed” by what he saw while on his first tour of the Kennedy Center after naming the chairman of the performing arts facility as part of an unprecedented overhaul. read more

On January 6th, investigators returned to Trump over the threat of pardon: “Do it. Or shut up.”

Members of the January 6th investigation committee returned to President Trump due to his threat of nullifying the president's pardon surrounding their work. read more