Trump picks Elon Musk as head of new department of government efficiency
US president-elect Donald Trump has announced that he intends to appoint Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, to head a department of “government efficiency”.
Musk will run the newly created body with Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who was once a candidate in the Republican primaries for the White House.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excessive regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” the Trump office said in a statement, adding that they would “send shockwaves through the system”.
Despite the name, the department will not be a government agency. Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside government to offer the White House “advice and guidance".
Conservative figurehead
A week after the election, Trump’s team is taking shape ahead of a meeting with president Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday.
He intends to appoint Pete Hegseth, a presenter on the conservative Fox News channel and a former US Army major, as Defence secretary. The governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, will be secretary of Homeland Security, a portfolio that includes customs and border guards.
Former Arkansas state governor Mike Huckabee has been nominated as US ambassador to Israel.
Huckabee was a Baptist pastor before entering politics and is a figurehead of the conservative Christian right. He has previously told journalists that he does not see the West Bank as occupied territory and that “the occupied West Bank does not exist”.
The Americans "have chosen to return to the White House a man who only a few weeks ago said that the European Union would have to ‘pay a high price’ if he won"
John Ratcliffe will head the CIA and Republican Congressman Mike Waltz will be Trump’s national security adviser, a key position in US foreign policy.
Meanwhile, European stock markets fell on Tuesday amid concern about customs duties on the United States’ trading partners, while the euro reached its lowest level against the dollar in a year.
The Americans “have chosen to return to the White House a man who only a few weeks ago said that the European Union would have to ‘pay a high price’ if he won”, said Isabelle Mateos y Lago, an economist at BNP Paribas.
The Japanese yen and Canadian dollar have also fallen and analysts expect the US dollar to gain further ground in 2025. Trump has promised to cut taxes and increase import tariffs, measures that may stoke inflation and slow the pace of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Higher US interest rates make the dollar more attractive compared to other currencies.
Elon Musk speaks on stage with Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, 5 October 2024 © PHOTO JIM WATSON / AFP
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