Where things stand between Trump and Big Tech executives

For more than a year, leaders from the country’s largest technology firms have worked to win President Trump’s favor as he returned to the White House. 

From meetings at Mar-a-Lago to hefty inauguration donations, their efforts were on full display from the first day of Trump’s, with CEOs like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg sitting in the front rows of the president’s inauguration while some top Republicans watched from overflow rooms. 

But the technology industry has since faced several ups and downs under the second Trump administration, testing their relationships with a president known for his unpredictability. 

Amid personal feuds and debates over artificial intelligence policy, some of the newer relationships have held, while others faced turbulence. 

Elon Musk attends the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The president’s relationship the CEO and founder of SpaceX and Tesla has been the most volatile of his second term, starting as a swift alliance and ending with a public blowout. 

While their relationship publicly devolved last June, tensions have eased since, with Musk joining Trump on his state visit to China earlier this month. 

Up until the 2024 election, Musk largely stayed out of politics, and at times, seemed skeptical of Trump, who also publicly criticized the tech billionaire in the past. But as Musk’s politics shifted right under the Biden administration, he endorsed Trump’s reelection bid, appeared alongside him at campaign rallies and donated hundreds of millions to reelect Trump and other Republicans. 

Musk led Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, where the business leader spent large chunks of time at the White House, even appearing at one Cabinet meeting. 

He continued his work at the White House for four months until his status as a special government employee expired in late May, seemingly leaving on good terms with Trump.

Musk, however, drew fire from Trump days later after he spoke out against the president’s tax and spending bill. He also took credit for Trump’s electoral victory in 2024 and later accused Trump of being named in the Jeffrey Epstein files, backing calls for the president to be impeached in an hours-long tirade onsocial media. 

Musk quickly tried to walk his claims back to make peace with the president, who wished him well and said they likely wouldn’t be speaking for a while. The tech billionaire floated creating a third party, but talks of this died down by the end of summer. 

By August, Trump softened his tone, stating Musk had a “bad moment,” but is a “good person.” 

The two reunited at the September funeral of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and Trump later told reporters he spoke “on and off” with Musk. 

Musk later appeared at a White House state dinner last fall, and at a Mar-a-Lago event earlier this year. 

In the largest and latest sign of reconciliation, Musk was one of two executives aboard Air Force One with Trump for the China state visit earlier this month. 

Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of Anthropic, attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 23, 2025.

The Anthropic CEO is another AI executive with a complicated relationship with Trump and his White........

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