President Donald Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk had a very public falling out in May 2025, fracturing their political partnership into a foul-mouthed feud.
Now, nearly a year later, Musk is on board Air Force One with the president en route to Beijing, indicating the pair may have made amends.
Musk first broke from the administration over Trump’s landmark One Big Beautiful Bill, saying he was “disappointed” by the large price tag and that it undermined the cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This split reached a fever pitch when Musk later accused Trump of complicity in an Epstein Files cover-up in a series of now-deleted tweets. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: White House Insiders Vent On Big Beautiful Breakup, Reveal Elon’s Final Straw)
Just days after alleging that Trump was in the Epstein Files, Musk apologized to the president in a post on X.
“I regret some of my posts about President [Donald Trump] last week,” Musk wrote. “They went too far.”
TOPSHOT – US President Donald Trump (C) presents SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk (R) to China’s Vice President Han Zheng at Beijing Capital Airport in Beijing on May 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
Despite his public apology, it seemed the damage had been done as Musk’s frequent appearances beside Trump in the Oval Office or in Cabinet meetings had ceased altogether. The only sighting since the infamous feud was in September 2025 when Trump and Musk sat together at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service.
Musk has also continued to donate to some Republican campaigns and even pledged to pay TSA workers’ salaries throughout the Democrat-induced shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. (RELATED: ‘Tough Call’: Daily Caller Reporter Appears To Stump Elon Musk With Question)
Although the September sighting suggested the pair were on civil terms, Musk had essentially retreated from political life.
That was until Tuesday, when Musk confirmed he was on board Air Force One with Trump and his entourage to visit China. Musk was one of over a dozen moguls aboard the presidential plane bound for Beijing, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and Meta CEO Dina Powell McCormick.
In addition to foreign policy, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss trade and artificial intelligence as tensions grow over sanctions and rare earth exports. The executives are reportedly joining Trump with the hopes of securing business dealings and purchase agreements with China.