Elon Musk may go back to running his companies soon, says economist Jeffrey Sachs

Tesla CEO Elon Musk won’t remain involved in Washington’s policy debates for long, according to Economist Jeffrey Sachs. While Musk has been unusually vocal about US trade actions lately, Sachs expects him to soon shift focus back to his businesses.“I don’t know how much longer Musk is going to last in Washington. He is going to go back to SpaceX and Tesla, I’m pretty sure, pretty quickly,” Sachs said in an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18 at the Rising Bharat Summit 2025.

Over the past weekend, Musk made direct but unsuccessful appeals to US

President Donald Trump to reverse the tariffs, Reuters reported, citing sources.
The exchange marked one of the most visible disagreements between the President and Musk.Musk, who has been advising on reducing public spending, has called for zero tariffs between the US and Europe, proposing a free-trade zone and more unrestrained labour movement.

Musk has earlier said that Trump’s auto tariffs have had a “significant” impact on Tesla.

Also Read: US foreign policy is ‘divide and conquer’: Economist Sachs urges India to be cautious of America’s intentions

Sachs also pointed to internal disagreement within the Trump administration, saying that while few advisers speak publicly, most are aware the trade policy is flawed. He identified senior trade adviser Peter Navarro as one of the few voices backing it.

Even Elon Musk — “our prime minister at least for the first three months of the year”– is saying that these tariffs make no sense, Sachs noted.

​Musk, too, has publicly criticised Navarro over the tariffs. Responding to Navarro’s remark that Tesla is just a “car assembler” dependent on foreign parts, Musk called him a ‘moron’ and ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’.

For the entire interview, watch the accompanying video

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