Donald Trump owes his comprehensive 2024 presidential victory in no small part to the fervent support of the world’s wealthiest person. In the months leading up to the presidential election, Musk put his full weight behind the Maga (Make America Great Again) movement, championed for Trump on major podcasts and used his influence over X to fashion political discourse. Musk’s America Pac injected close to $120m into the former president’s campaign.

Now, Trump is expected to return the favor. In conversation with reporters last month, he said he would engage Musk as “secretary of cost-cutting”. Musk, for his part, has kidded he would be interested in serving as head of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge) with a stated objective of reducing government spending by $2tn. Practically speaking, notables say those cost cuts could lead to deregulation and policy changes that would directly impact Musk’s companies, particularly Tesla, X, SpaceX and Neuralink.

Trump administration officials, keen to maintain Musk’s backing, may similarly loosen rules and reassign federal government officials to further Musk’s interests. It’s an overt, openly transactional relationship contrasting any seen in recent US political memory, experts said. “We’ve seen lobbying efforts, we’ve seen Super Pacs, but this is a different level we’ve never seen before,” said Gita Johar (a professor at Columbia Business School). “There will be some quid pro quo where he [Musk] will benefit.” Stopping for a moment, Johar added: “‘Conflict of interest’ seems rather quaint.”

Trump: bad for EVs, good for Musk

Even before inauguration of second Trump administration Tesla is already reaping the benefits of victory of Trump. Just hours after the Associated Press official called the race in favor of Trump, the EV maker’s stock shot up 13% to a 52-week high. By the end of the week, Tesla touched $1tn in market capitalization, its highest valuation in two years. Musk’s own fortune shot up $26bn with the stock.

That might seem odd in light of the former president’s vocal derision for EVs. In recent years, the president-elect has referred to exertions to promote environmentally friendly cars as a “Green New Scam” and claimed electric vehicles simply “don’t work.” He has also vowed he would end Joe Biden’s “electric vehicle mandate” on his first day in office. Biden has implemented tax credits and emissions standards favoring EVs.

But Trump’s uncompromising rhetoric against EVs started to get compromised almost immediately after Musk pledged his backing for the candidate. Trump himself has been unambiguous about the reason for his shifting outlook. “I’m for electric cars,” Trump said during a August campaign event. “I have to be, because Elon endorsed me very strongly.”