Donald Trump, Elon Musk at odds over China war strategy? US President drops a hint: ’Won’t show it to a businessman’

Elon Musk, Donald Trump's adviser and tech billionaire, held a high-level meeting at the Pentagon on Friday, March 21. The Tesla chief demanded prosecution of any Defense Department officials found leaking "maliciously false information" about his visit, Reuters reported. For the first time after the meeting, Donald Trump admitted that Elon Musk’s business interests could pose risks.

At the Pentagon, the Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder met U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for 80 minutes in his first such talks. Notably, Musk's businesses had previously secured a number of Defense Department contracts while Pentagon is responsible for a major chunk of federal government spending.

According to The New York Times report, Musk was going to be briefed on secret war plans for China. However, US President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and others denied these claims. Seeking legal action against leakers, Musk called the report "pure propaganda." Hitting out at the alleged whistleblowers, Elon Musk in a post on X wrote, "I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will be found," before heading for the Hegseth meeting.

These remarks followed Donald Trump statement, the US President said the publication reported "incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential 'war with China.' How ridiculous? China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue!!!"

What happened during the Pentagon meeting?

Following the meeting Donald Trump hinted at Musk's potential conflict of interest and suggested limits to his access to military plans. Trump said that he did not want to show the United States' plans for a potential war with China to anybody. "I don't want to show that to anybody. But certainly you wouldn't show it to a businessman, who is helping us so much," Reuters quoted Donald Trump as saying, adding, “Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that.”

"There was no war plans, no Chinese war plans. There was no secret plans," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, clarifying that he had an informal conversation with the Tesla chief which focused on innovation and efficiencies.

In a post on X, Pete Hegseth stated, “Amazing visit with @elonmusk at the Pentagon today. He is a patriot, and I look forward to continuing our work together. With Elon and @DOGE we are ensuring our Military continues to be the greatest fighting force the world has ever known.”