Elon Musk, who now leads the United States government efficiency initiative known as DOGE, outlined plans for significant cuts to US spending and regulations, including the elimination of the US Agency for International Development.
He also suggested that the bond market should express gratitude for these changes.
“We’ve just got to do wholesale spring cleaning” of US regulations, Musk stated during an X Spaces session early Monday.
In one of his most significant proposed cuts, the billionaire supporter of Donald Trump revealed that his group is working to shut down USAID, the foreign aid agency established by Congress.
Musk mentioned that he has Trump’s support for the plan to eliminate USAID as a stand-alone agency and integrate its remaining functions into the State Department.
He added that if the US finds it necessary to revive such an organization or any of the regulations he’s targeting for removal in the future, they could simply be re-established.
Musk also announced that he would be joining JP Morgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon for a talk this week, aiming to convince bond markets that his cost-cutting initiative, DOGE, will help restore confidence in US debt.
Musk’s remarks were made during a nearly hour-long audio conversation on X, marking his first public, in-depth discussion of DOGE since Trump’s presidency.
He was joined in the candid conversation by Republican Senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, along with former DOGE co-head Vivek Ramaswamy.
Fears of rising deficits and inflationary policies drove Treasury yields higher from their September lows, both during and after the US election.
Signs of substantial spending cuts that could reduce the fiscal deficit would be seen as positive news for bond bulls anticipating lower yields.
The extent of Musk’s activities during Trump’s first two weeks suggests that he has significantly expanded DOGE’s mandate beyond the original executive order, which was focused solely on “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
