Musk criticizes Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ and admits tariffs have harmed his businesses

Musk admitted Trump’s tariffs were “affecting things a little bit” before criticizing his “One Big, Beautiful Bill”

Elon Musk criticized President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” saying it “undermines” what the Department of Government Efficiency is doing – while also admitting the administration’s tariffs have harmed his businesses.

Speaking with CBS News in an interview that aired Sunday morning, Musk, 53, admitted Trump’s tariffs affect his businesses, saying, “You know, tariffs always affect things a little bit.”

Musk then declined to comment on the Trump Administration’s pause on allowing student visas – which is what allowed the billionaire to come to the U.S. 1992– and said he wanted to focus on “the subject of the day,” meaning spaceships.

Despite claiming the subject was off limits, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO proceeded vented his frustrations over the president’s expensive new spending bill passing in the House.

“I was, like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, doesn’t decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said.

Elon Musk criticized President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” and said the tariffs will impact his businesses, according to a report. (Getty Images)

“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk said while laughing. “But I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion.”

Following the interview, which was taped on Tuesday, CBS shared a clip of the billionaire criticizing Trump’s spending bill – only for Musk to step down from his special role within the administration 24 hours later.

The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, not only left the government in a state of disarray, but it also failed to save the government nearly as much money as Musk initially promised.

The billionaire businessman has claimed to have saved the government $175 billion – a far cry from his initial target of $2 trillion – and his revised goal of $1 trillion.

Trump’s new spending bill, which is currently up for debate in the Senate, will add a whopping $3.8 trillion to the country’s debt over the next 10 years.

Musk’s time at the White House was limited to 130 days as a special government employee. That period expired this week. During his time in government, Tesla stock dropped as much as 71 percent.

Musk, who now intends to focus more on his companies than government matters, said DOGE will continue in some guise.

Elon Musk formally stepped away from working with the White House on Friday. (Getty Images)

"Well, DOGE is gonna continue, just as a way of life," he told CBS. "I will have some participation in that, but as I've said publicly, my focus has to be on the companies at this point."

Musk appeared at the White House on Friday to mark the end of his time with DOGE, alongside President Trump.

The press conference came the same day as a report which claimed he was using drugs “intensely” and regularly during the 2024 presidential campaign, including “chronically” using the powerful anesthetic ketamine.

Musk was allegedly using ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and Adderall, which he kept in a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, sources told The New York Times.

Musk denied the allegations and both he and Trump seemed eager to laud each other’s accomplishments during his sendoff.

“We’ll remember you as we announce billions of dollars of extra waste, fraud and abuse,” Trump said. “DOGE has installed geniuses with an engineering mindset and unbelievably talented people on computers,” he continued. “I actually asked Elon one time, ‘What's their primary thing?’ And they have a lot of primary things all having to do with being smart.”

Musk, at the time, said he believes that DOGE “will continue to be doing an incredible job.”