Trump-Musk reconciliation critical for America’s technology race with China

Let’s be honest: Most people thought the Trump–Musk feud would drag on for weeks. After all, you had the president threatening to review SpaceX contracts and the world’s richest man reposting Epstein rumors. The stock market blinked. The media drooled. It looked like a real fracture between two of America’s most powerful forces.

Then, just like that, it ended with a conciliatory tweet from Elon Musk.

“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: TRUMP AND MUSK NEED TO RECONCILE FOR THE SAKE OF AMERICA’S FUTURE

With that one sentence, Musk put out the fire. The headlines moved on. But those paying attention understood something bigger had happened: America’s top industrial mind and its top political leader were back on the same side — and just in time. Because while the feud may have rattled markets, the mission ahead is far more serious.

The world is entering a new kind of power competition — not over tanks and troops, but over chips, batteries, robots, and satellites. Whoever builds the future wins it. And right now, America is in a tight race.

Most people don’t realize just how tight that race is. China is no longer just the place that makes cheap exports. It’s the world’s largest EV exporter, the undisputed leader in battery capacity, and a pioneer in robo-taxis and humanoid deployment. China’s rise didn’t come from luck. It came from planning, investment, and technical execution that anyone serious about the future has to study.

The American edge has never been top-down coordination — it’s been bottom-up ingenuity. We don’t centralize. We compete. And when the right ideas meet the right builder, we move faster than anyone. Musk is that builder. Right now, he’s the engine room of American industry.

Say what you will about him, but he’s building what matters. Tesla isn’t just an electric car company — it’s building autonomy. Its Full Self-Driving system is trained on real-world data at unmatched scale. xAI isn’t just another chatbot startup — it’s assembling one of the largest AI compute clusters on Earth, powered by American chips, built on American hardware. And SpaceX? It’s not just launching rockets. It’s delivering the launch, communications, and satellite infrastructure that American national security now depends on.

This used to be the government’s job. Now, private industry is doing it faster — and Musk is doing it best.

Trump and Musk don’t need to agree on everything. But they must work together — because no one else can close the gap we’re facing.

President Trump, to his credit, understands this. His economic agenda is focused on tariffs, fiscal reform, and reshoring — all necessary steps. But without actual building, it’s just paperwork. Musk can deliver the factories, the hardware, the chips, the satellites. He is executing where others are still drafting policy memos.

That’s why the feud was dangerous. Not because of the politics — but because it risked derailing the most important industrial partnership in America today. Trump and Musk don’t need to agree on everything. But they must work together — because no one else can close the gap we’re facing.

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China has been clear-eyed and consistent in targeting strategic industries. Its speed is a reminder that in today’s world, success favors the focused. Anyone trying to understand the next industrial age — from Washington to Wall Street — should be watching how Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Hefei are moving.

We’re not in decline — but we are in a race. The future isn’t waiting for consensus. It’s being built by whoever moves fastest with the most focus. America has always thrived not by following orders, but by backing builders. Musk brings that speed. Trump brings the authority to remove roadblocks. Together, they can do what no committee ever could: turn ambition into real-world power.

The U.S. still leads in frontier technologies — AI models, chip design, private space launch, autonomous systems. But technology isn’t just about who invents first. It’s about who builds at scale, and who brings the future to market. China is doing that — and the only mistake would be pretending otherwise. 

That’s the moment we’re in now. Trump has the mandate. Musk has the machines. And if they stay aligned, America doesn’t just stay in the game — it sets the pace. Not by trying to block China’s rise, but by showing the world that America can still build, compete, and win.

TANVI RATNA