Donald Trump And Elon Musk's Relationship Ended Exactly How We All Knew It Would

Good morning! It's Friday, June 6, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're looking at the state of Elon Musk and Donald Trump's terrible relationship, how badly Canada's automotive industry is suffering because of tariffs and just how much Stellantis' new CEO is going to make this year.

It's Friday, friends. Let's end this week the right way.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk's big beautiful bromance imploded violently on June 5 as the two exchanged posts on social media like middle schoolers going through their first breakup. It remains to be seen what this means for the country or who will get JD Vance in the divorce, but it's very fun to watch.

This all started with Musk's vehement opposition to a Republican spending bill (called the One Big Beautiful Bill — a cornerstone of Trump's legislative agenda) that would cut EV tax credits for Tesla (and other automakers) among other things that would impact his businesses negatively. He urged lawmakers to "KILL thee BILL" and warned it would add to the deficit. Here's what happened next. From the Washington Post:

Musk, who spent at least $288 million in 2024 to help elect Trump and other Republicans, accused the president of "such ingratitude" and publicly mused about starting a third party.

Trump responded by threatening Musk's government contracts. The stock price of Tesla, the electric-vehicle company Musk owns, fell sharply, down 14 percent at the market close. The value of Trump's meme coin also dropped.

Musk's U.S. DOGE Service project was already winding down, with many of his aides returning to their private businesses. Others, however, have remained prominently in government, and as perceived allies of Musk, they could face retaliation. Musk's increasingly harsh criticisms of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill — the president's main legislative priority — have already complicated the measure's path in a closely divided Congress.

The public unraveling began in the Oval Office, where Trump spoke to reporters at the start of a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

"Elon and I had a great relationship," he said. "I don't know if we will anymore."

From here, things really ramped up — especially on Musk's end. He wrote on his social media site, X, that he agreed Trump should be impeached and replaced with JD Vance. In another post, he warned that the President's tariffs would cause a recession in the second half of this year, and he sent out a poll asking if it was time to "create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle."

Then, things got even wilder.

Trump responded with posts on Truth Social, saying that "the easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it."

[...]

Musk volleyed back, declaring it was "time to drop the really big bomb" that Trump "is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day DJT!"

Of course, Musk didn't offer any sort of evidence for this claim. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it an "unfortunate episode" for Musk.

Unless something wacky happens, this marks the end of a nearly year-long bromance. Musk threw his support and $290 million behind Trump during the 2024 election cycle. It bought him a lot of access to the White House once Trump was inaugurated, but it seems that all of that is over now.

Gone are the days of Musk posting that he loves Trump "as much as a straight man can love another man."

This breakup is not going to be reconciled anytime soon. President Trump says he's "not particularly" interested in talking to Elon again, saying the Tesla CEO "lost his mind." In fact, the President apparently sounded unconcerned about his feud with the world's richest man. Reporters say it seemed like it wasn't even the most interesting thing that happened on Thursday. From ABC News:

Speaking on a phone call Friday morning shortly before 7 a.m., ABC News asked him about reports he had a call scheduled with Musk for later in the day.

"You mean the man who has lost his mind?" he asked, saying he was "not particularly" interested in talking to him right now.

He said Musk wants to talk to him, but he's not ready to talk to Musk.

Trump then talked for a couple of minutes about other things — referring to inflation (down), foreign investment (up) and his plans for a visit to China (huge).

In a very petty — yet funny — move, Trump said he's considering either giving away or selling the "everything's computer" Tesla Model S he bought to support Musk during a bizarre event at the White House in March.

Folks close to Trump said he's more sad than angry at Musk. One advisor who was with the President on Thursday night said he seemed more "bummed" than anything. That's understandable, breakups are hard. We've all been there, Don.

Canada posted its largest merchandise trade deficit ever in April. The $7.1 billion shortfall happened primarily because of U.S. tariffs. Overall exports fell 10.8% in the fourth month of the year to $60.4 billion. That's their lowest level since June of 2023. 

Unsurprisingly, vehicle and parts exports were hit the hardest — falling 17.4%. This isn't just a problem that's going to impact Canada, though. Canadian Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association President Flavio Volpe says this data is bad for U.S. companies and consumers. From Automotive News:

"The North American auto sector is so intertwined that any analysis of the decline in automotive exports from Canada would reveal serious injury to U.S. car and parts makers' profits and prospects in the region as a result," he said.

[...]

Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association CEO Brian Kingston, who lobbies governments in Canada on behalf of the Detroit Three automakers, said Canada and the U.S. need to come to a resolution quickly.

"U.S. tariffs on the integrated North American auto industry are severely disrupting automotive trade and raising the cost of production," he said. "The latest Canadian vehicle export data underlines the urgency of securing an agreement with U.S. that removes tariffs.

"The longer tariffs remain in place, the more damage done to the auto industry and the economy."

President Trump has done a really good job of upending the world's economy, and for what exactly? Who is this helping?

Stellantis' newly milted CEO, Antonio Filosa, is set to earn $10.2 million this year, according to a filing from the automaker. That might sound like a ton of money — because it is — but it is less than his predecessor and counterparts at the other Big Three automakers got. In 2024, then-CEO Carlos Tavares was paid $23.9 million for doing an objectively bad job. The year before that, he had $40 million, and he's set to make another $40 million following his resignation.

Filosa is going to earn way less than Mary Barra at GM and Jim Farley at Ford. In 2024, they earned $29.5 million and $24.9 million, respectively. His pay is far more in line with overseas automaker CEOs. From Automotive News:

Outside of the U.S., Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume received compensation of €10.35 million ($11.8 million) in 2024, while Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo earned about €5.5 million.

Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda, who leads the world's biggest automaker by volume, received about $10 million in the 2024 Japanese fiscal year. Euisun Chung, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, received a total salary of 11.5 billion won ($8.8 million).

Here's a breakdown of his proposed compensation:

• A base salary of $1.8 million;
• maximum short-term incentive of 400 percent of base each year;
• long-term incentives granted as performance share units. The target opportunity is 500 percent of base salary for 2025-26, rising to 600 percent in 2027, with a maximum of 780 percent;
• for the years 2025-27, a cash payment of $1.2 million to bridge the gap until Filosa is eligible for long-term incentives in 2028;
• tax equalization benefits to offset taxation in other countries, including $975,000 per year until the end of 2026 as part of Filosa's current contract with Stellantis.

Man, with just $10 million a year, I don't know how Filosa is going to be able to put food on the table. I hope he's been saving.

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Next time there's a movie you don't care about but feel you need to see for cultural reasons, go to a drive-in. That's what I did for "Wicked" last year, and it was a fantastic experience.

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