Call with China's Xi, and Trump-Musk exchange fueled barbs during 20th week in office

President Donald Trump and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk engaged in a general feud Thursday less than a week after the White House held a farewell press conference for Musk highlighting his contributions spearheading the Department of Leadership Efficiency DOGE Musk departed his tenure as a special leadership employee with DOGE May but swiftly launched into criticisms of Trump s massive tax and spending package dubbed the big beautiful bill Tuesday Musk labeled the measure a disgusting abomination because of reports it ramps up the federal deficit On Thursday Trump recounted reporters in the Oval Office that Musk opposed the bill because it eliminates an electric conveyance tax credit that benefits companies like Tesla But Trump disclosed that provision has inevitably been part of the measure I'm very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here better than you people Trump reported in the Oval Office in a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz He knew everything about it He had no predicament with it All of a sudden he had a issue and he only developed the trouble when he exposed out that we're going to have to cut the EV mandate because that's billions and billions of dollars and it really is unfair TRUMP NOT INTERESTED IN TALKING TO MUSK ELON S TOTALLY LOST IT'Musk right away responded on X to Trump's statements urging a removal of the disgusting pork included in the measure He also revealed it was false that he had been shown the measure even once The two continued to publicly spar against one another with Musk asserting that Trump wouldn t have won the vote if it weren t for his own backing Meanwhile Trump accused Musk of going CRAZY over cuts to the EV credits and revealed that Musk had been wearing thin Additionally Trump recounted Fox News on Friday that Elon's totally lost it and was not interested in speaking over the phone with Musk despite media reports suggesting that the two would talk Here s what also happened this week Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz met with Trump at the White House Thursday where the two discussed the war in Ukraine While Merz asserted that the U S was in a powerful spot to bring a meaningful end to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia Trump offered that the world might need to let them fight for a little while America is again in a very strong position to do something on this war and ending this war Merz commented MERZ SAYS US IN A STRONG POSITION TO STOP PUTINMerz explained that Germany was willing to help however it could and yearned to discuss options to partner with the U S to bring peace Likewise Merz suggested that European allies exert additional pressure on Russia to end the conflict But Trump reported that he described Putin in a current call that perhaps both countries would need to feel the consequences of fighting more acutely claiming he had described Putin maybe you're going to have to keep fighting and suffering a lot Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy they hate each other and they're fighting in a park and you try and pull them apart they don't want to be pulled Trump announced Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday to discuss commerce negotiations between Washington and Beijing I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi of China discussing selected of the intricacies of our lately made and agreed to Bargain Deal Trump mentioned Thursday in a Truth Social post The call lasted approximately one and a half hours and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries Trump revealed the conversation had focused almost entirely on deal and that Xi had invited the U S president and first lady Melania Trump to visit China Likewise Trump reciprocated and invited Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan to visit the U S TRUMP TOUTS VERY POSITIVE BREAKTHROUGH WITH XI AFTER SLAMMING CHINA FOR DEAL VIOLATIONThe call comes nearly a week after Trump condemned China on May for violating an initial transaction agreement that the U S and China had hashed out in May And on Wednesday Trump explained Xi was extremely hard to make a deal with in a Truth Social post The negotiations from May prompted both countries to agree that the U S would lower its tariffs against Chinese imports from to and China would reduce its tariffs against U S imports from to Fox News Caitlin McFall contributed to this description