Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting: Tariff deadline April 2, ‘no exceptions’ to executive orders
US President Donald Trump has reminded his party of Elon Musk’s role within his administration, warning if they weren’t happy with his presence, he would “throw them out”.
The SpaceX, Tesla and X owner secured a seat at the table for Mr Trump’s first cabinet meeting of his second administration, something Mr Trump says some “disagree” with.
“Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, then we’ll throw them out of here,” Mr Trump said.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“They have a lot of respect for Elon and that he’s doing this. Some disagree a little bit. But I will tell you for the most part, I think everyone’s not only happy, they’re thrilled.”
Mr Musk, who is heading up the Department of Government Efficiency, went on the explain his role to Mr Trump’s cabinet, saying he was the president’s “tech support”, something the Tesla owner had printed on his tee-shirt.
He added he was working to “fix the government computer systems”.
Mr Musk said he had received “a lot of death threats” regarding his work that has seen hundreds lose their jobs.
“We think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead. Which is probably why they can’t respond. And some people who are not real people, like they’re literally fictional individuals that are collecting paychecks,” Mr Musk said.
“So we’re literally trying to figure out, are these people real, are they alive and can they write an email?”
His comments referred to a controversial email sent late last week to government workers, where the DOGE leader asked them to explain what they had done at work that week.
What Donald Trump said in first cabinet meeting
The US president swept through a long list of priorities with his cabinet, who met just 37 days after the Republican returned to the White House.
Mr Trump said Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin is planning big cuts for the agency, with 65 per cent of people possibly getting the chop.
“He thinks he’s going to be cutting 65 or so per cent of the people from environmental and we’re going to speed up the process, too,”
Mr Trump spoke about his newly announced “gold card”, a purchasable green card with a $US5 million price tag.
“Companies can go and buy a gold card, and they can use it as a matter of recruitment. At the same time, the company is using that money to pay down debt. We’re going to pay down a lot of debt with that,” Mr Trump said.
“Maybe it will sell like crazy. I happen to think it’s going to sell like crazy.
Mr Trump would not be drawn on comment around China and Taiwan. However, the president said: “We’ll do things with China, the relationship we’ll have with China will be a very good one.”
The president’s beloved tariffs was another topic about the cabinet, with Mr Trump revealing April 2 is the deadline for announcements on Mexico and Canada.
In a display of Mr Trump’s power, and the cabinet’s hoped unity, the president told reporters in the room that his people will “follow the orders” he sets in signed executive orders.
“No exceptions,” he added.
Mr Trump also shared detail on the Ukraine-United States mineral deal, set to be signed at the White House on Friday.
The president said the “very big” deal would allow the United States to “get our money back”, adding “we’re going to get a lot of money in the future”.
