Will Elon Musk have a role in the US government with Donald Trump’s election win?

Elon Musk was with Donald Trump on Election Night and the victor of the 2024 race for the White House praised the tech billionaire calling him a “special guy, super genius.” The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla could be set to reap large rewards from a second Trump term.

But he could also face numerous conflicts of interest if, as the incoming 47th president has said he will, Musk forms part of his new administration.

Will Elon Musk have a role in the US government with Donald Trump’s election win?

“At the suggestion of Elon Musk… I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms,” Trump told the Economic Club of New York in September. However, since Trump has been vague on what the position would entail saying it would not be a Cabinet post but referring to Musk as “secretary of cost-cutting.”

As the government efficiency commission, the tech billionaire has spoken at campaign rallies about just how much he could save by cutting US government spending, putting the figure at $2 trillion. He’s repeated the phrase that spending must be reduced “to live within our means.”

He has admitted that this austerity will mean economic pain in the short run for the ordinary American. “You know, that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity,” he told a virtual town hall event last week.

However, his business interests could butt heads with Trump’s proposed tariffs, especially when it comes to China, which the incoming president says he wants to impose a levy of 60% or higher on Chinese goods. The president-elect has also said he wants to “decouple” the US economy, the largest in the world, from its competitor, the second largest.

Tesla relies heavily on China as a market and as a manufacturing center. Lawmakers who spoke to NBC News expressed concerns Musk could undermine efforts to prevent China from “gaining access to cutting-edge technology that can be used to build up its military and intelligence capabilities. “

Then there are the concerns about his criticism of “cost-plus” government contracts. As the US plans to return to the Moon to set up a permanent base in the future, billions of dollars in contracts will be on the line.

Musk’s space company is competing with the likes of Boeing and Blue Horizon, owned by Jeff Bezos. A position inside the government could give an unfair advantage to the head of the company that’s been called by industry analysts according to a report in the Wall Street Journal a “de facto monopoly” on carrying commercial and government satellites into space.