Elon Musk cuts political donations

Newsblog on US politics

Withdrawal from politics? Musk shortens donations

US President Trump receives South Africa’s head of state Ramaphosa. The EU told the US broadcaster Radio Free Europe 5.5 million euros. All developments in the news blog.

President Donald Trump wants to build a new missile defense for the United States for the model of the Israeli Iron Dome in almost four years in almost four years. Trump announced this in the White House. 25 billion US dollars (22 billion euros) are planned as start-up financing for the project. In total, the project should cost around $ 175 billion. Read more about this here.

As part of the Computex Computer Mass in Taiwan, Nvidia boss Jensen Huang described the US export controls for AI chips to China as a failure. The market share of Nvidia in China fell from 95 percent at the beginning of the term of office of former US President Joe Biden to 50 percent, said the manager, who leads the world’s largest provider of high-performance processors for artificial intelligence (AI), on Wednesday. “All in all, export control was a failure,” said Huang in front of an audience at the fair.

The US sales ban for advanced AI chips to China has forced the companies there to buy semiconductors from Chinese developers such as Huawei, and at the same time prompted China to aggressively invest in the establishment of a supply chain that does not depend on manufacturers outside the country.

In the middle of diplomatic tensions, US President Donald Trump welcomes South African head of state Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House on Wednesday. The main topic is the economic relationships between the two countries. For South Africa, the United States is the second most important trading partner to China, but the country is affected by Trump’s import duties.

The meeting is overshadowed by a conflict over the acceptance of white South Africans as “refugees” in the United States. Ramaphosa’s spokesman therefore accused the US government “disinformation”. Trump had described the white South Africans as the victim of a “genocide” in her homeland. In doing so, he referred to the law on the landing of land, which was signed by Ramaphosa in January. According to state expropriations, the government does not have to make any compensation payments under state expropriation.

The EU has granted 5.5 million euros to the U.S. foreigner Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after the US government frozen the financing of the transmitter. “This supports the vital work of Radio Free Europe,” said EU foreign officer Kaja Kallas on Tuesday after a meeting of EU Foreign Minister in Brussels. The 5.5 million euros are intended as “short -term emergency financing”, as a “security network for independent journalism”.

The transmitter of the broadcaster of $ 77 million (around 68 million euros) had been frozen after US President Donald Trump took office. In March, Trump signed a decree that classifies the Usagm authority responsible for the abroad as a “unnecessary part of the German Bundesbureaucracy” and prescribes its drastic cuts. However, the broadcaster had sued the cuts before a US court.

The broadcaster RFE/RL originated in the Cold War, he was supposed to counter the Soviet propaganda at the time. In the meantime, reporting focuses on authoritarian countries such as Russia, China or Iran. The headquarters have been in Prague since 1995. The broadcaster is broadcast in 23 countries and in 27 languages ​​and reaches around 50 million people weekly.

Elon Musk claims to reduce his expenses for politics “clearly” in the future. “As far as political expenses are concerned, I will do significantly less in the future,” he said on Tuesday by video at an economic forum in Doha. “If I see a reason to make political expenses in the future, I will do that. At the moment I see no reason,” he continued.

Musk had massively supported US President Donald Trump in the election campaign. In return, after the inauguration, he took over the Doge staff for efficient government work. He had drastically reduced his commitment there. Media put the damage to his work at $ 135 billion.

Musk wants to continue his commitment to Tesla. He will still see himself at the head of the group in five years and wants to buy stocks back strategically, he said at the forum. Read more about this here.