How long will the relationship last?

The Musk-Trump “bromance”

How long will this last?

Elon Musk and Donald Trump seem inseparable at the moment. But there could soon be a break. China plays a role in this.

In America there is already talk of a “bromance”, a very good relationship between two male friends, between the entrepreneur Elon Musk and the future President Donald Trump. The Tesla boss invested millions in the election campaign and used his network X to trumpet Trump’s and his own Republican slogans to the world. Musk now goes in and out of Trump’s family home in Mar-a-Lago and is allowed to head a government commission. Musk is considered one of Trump’s closest advisors.

But the question is how long this relationship will last. As an entrepreneur, Musk certainly pursues his own interests. It is no coincidence that the Efficiency Commission is named DOGE, like a cryptocurrency promoted by Musk. His Space X company relies largely on public contracts, and his Platform During a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump even got the tech billionaire, who was apparently there, on the phone.

Musk is self-confident, which is also shown by a tweet about the appointment of the Treasury Department. He is in favor of the CEO of the financial services provider Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, as the new US Treasury Secretary. This would “really bring about change,” the billionaire wrote on his short message service

Is Musk already in control of Trump’s team, or is it just another sign of his unshakable self-confidence and the conviction that freedom of expression has hardly any limits – not even when it comes to internal discussions about filling positions?

Many observers view the Trump-Musk alliance with skepticism. Both are considered egomaniacs who see themselves first and rarely enter into alliances. “Trump is an incredibly business-oriented person who loves the power of the presidency and hates the idea of ​​being taken advantage of. Eventually, he will tire of Musk and move on to the next shiny thing,” writes American political scientist Andrew Gawthorpe in an analysis. His guess: “JD Vance, Don Jr., Susie Wiles and a dozen others will be looking for a reason to stab Musk in the back.”

But there could also be another reason for a break between Trump and Musk. Trump has repeatedly identified China as his main opponent in his election campaign. Musk, on the other hand, sells his electric cars in China and has little interest in a trade war. “Trump and Musk could fall out because Musk ultimately opposes tough economic policies toward China,” Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told Newsweek magazine.

Trump’s designated Secretary of State Marco Rubio is considered a hardliner against China, as is likely future National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. Trump had repeatedly announced that he wanted to impose punitive tariffs against China. Beijing is apparently already preparing for a further cooling of relations. Punitive tariffs and sanctions could play a role. In addition, China could also rely on other dirty methods, as economist Jürgen Matthes from the Cologne Institute of German Economics shows. “When it comes to bureaucratic arbitrariness, the Chinese can come up with a lot of ideas: setting the tax investigation on their backs or delaying approvals are two popular examples of putting obstacles in the way of companies,” the expert told the portal “n-tv.de”.

A trade war could significantly weaken Musk’s Tesla company. There is a Gigafactory in Shanghai that builds cars for the Chinese market, but also for Australia and parts of Asia. Tesla sold 72,000 models in China last year, Reuters reports. That is an increase of 66 percent. China is the second largest market for the electric car manufacturer after the USA. Almost 22 percent of Tesla’s sales are now said to come from China. Musk is unlikely to have much interest in having to stop lucrative production there.