WSJ What’s News - Elon Musk Leaves DOGE, but Will Keep Advising Trump

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

P.M. Edition for May 30. President Trump says farewell to Elon Musk as the billionaire returns to the private sector. And American consumers are feeling gloomy about the economy. WSJ reporter Chao Deng says economists chalk that up to the tariff news cycle. Plus, the Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to cancel temporary protections for about 500,000 migrants. Pierre Bienaimé hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet Tim's new Oreo Mocha ice caps with Oreo in every sip. Perfect for listening to the A side, or B side, or both sides. Order yours on the Tim's app today at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time. President Trump says farewell to Elon Musk in a news conference full of praise. Today it's about a man named Elon, and he's one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced. He stepped forward to put his very great talents into the service of our nation and we appreciate it. Plus, American consumers are still down on the economy after a month of whipsawing tariff news.

And the Supreme Court delivers a win for President Trump's immigration agenda as thousands of non-citizens lose their legal protections. It's Friday, May 30th. I'm Kier Bienemé for the Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Osola. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. American households still felt gloomy about the economy in May. The final reading for the University of Michigan's closely watched index of consumer sentiment was 52.2, unchanged from the previous month.

It's one of the lowest ever recorded in data going back to 1952. U.S. economy reporter Chow Deng joins me now with more. Chow, why are Americans down on the economy? Well, economists say this is really still about the tariff news cycle. Tariffs are in the headlines almost every day, and it's really worrying consumers. It's making it very difficult to forecast prices. In this survey, we saw that people expect prices to surge 6.6% over the next year,

and that is one of the highest inflation expectations in decades. How have the events of the month shaped the sentiment? In the first half of the survey, which started in late April, people were still very much worried about the tariffs imposed by Trump, including the extremely high duties on China. And then about halfway through the survey, the White House struck a deal with China to lower the duties there. And so that was a pretty big positive surprise.

So you would have seen that reflected in the second half. There was also like mixed good and bad news later on. Walmart said that it would raise prices in response to tariffs. Trump threatened 50% duties on the EU and later said he would delay them. So that made for a bit of a mixed news cycle. The stock market was rallying. That may have cushioned the mood of some investors. But all in all, the sentiment remained unchanged from the previous month, again, because there is just so much worry about tariffs and the uncertainty ahead. What are analysts saying about future consumer sentiment, how it will evolve?

Even just this week, right, we had the news from the International Trade Court invalidating many of Trump's tariffs and then another appeals court decision that put that ruling on hold. And this news wasn't part of the survey, but this is the kind of headline that is going to continue to worry consumers in the coming months. And so most economists think that consumer sentiment will probably drift around pretty low levels for the time being. Going back to inflation, how could expectations of inflation affect consumer sentiment in the future? It's a loose relationship, but depending on how people think prices will move, they may

save and buy less, or they may try to get ahead and stock up for the future. That was US economy reporter, Chao Deng. Chao, thanks for joining me. Thank you. Meanwhile, the Fed's preferred gauge of consumer prices ticked up just slightly in April. The Commerce Department said today that the personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.1% last month.

That brought the index's 12-month increase to 2.1% through April, down from March's figure and closer to the Fed's target of 2%. The core version of the index, which cuts out volatile food and energy costs, also increased by 0.1% last month. 12-month core inflation fell to 2.5% in April from 2.7% in March. The Commerce Department's report also showed that consumer spending grew by 0.7% in March. The Commerce Department's report also showed that consumer spending grew by 0.2% in April compared with March, while personal income increased by 0.8%. And the U.S.'s trade deficit for goods shrank substantially in April, as new tariffs weighed

on imports. The Commerce Department said goods imports fell 20% to over $276 billion, while exports rose 3.4% to $188.5 billion. It was the biggest one-month drop in goods imports on record. The goods trade deficit shot higher in the months after President Trump's re-election, as companies raced to get supplies onshore before the tariffs they expected the White House to enact. Stock indexes were mostly lower Friday before closing, little changed after renewed signs of friction with China.

The S&P 500 was flat for the day, the Dow up 0.1% and the Nasdaq down 0.3%. The S&P 500 recorded its best monthly performance since November 2023. recorded its best monthly performance since November 2023. President Trump said farewell to Elon Musk today, closing out one of the most turbulent periods in modern government, with an Oval Office news conference in which both men said their relationship would continue. Many of the Doge people, Elon, are staying behind too, so they're not leaving. And Elon's really not leaving. He's going to be back and forth, I think. I have a feeling.

It's his baby and I think he's going to be doing a lot of things. But Elon's service to America has been without comparison in modern history. Musk's actions during his tenure at the White House at times eclipsed Trump's, dominating headlines as he presided over one of the most ambitious, divisive, and ultimately underperforming attempts to remake the federal bureaucracy. Doge said it has saved the government $175 billion since Trump's inauguration on January 20th. But analysts across the political spectrum have called those claims inflated, and it

is far short of the $1 trillion or more Musk promised. So who's going to lead Doge after Musk? WSJ columnist Tim Higgins spoke to our tech news briefing podcast. We know that the engine of that effort, Elon Musk, is taking a step back. The journal has reported that Steve Davis, a longtime lieutenant in the Elon Musk world, is also stepping back. So the question becomes who is the leader, who is the kind of the power behind the scenes, and it's something we just don't really have

a good grasp on at this point. But like Buddhism, as Musk likes to say, the Doge effort will continue. And one of the things that's really of concern is that while Doge is highlighting areas that could see savings, it seems as if Congress will really have to cement that, the president hinting that that effort will be made there. But so far, we haven't really seen that.

And the budget bill that is moving away through Congress is projected to increase the U.S. deficit, so kind of going the opposite direction. And you can hear more about Doge's record so far and the challenges Musk will face as he refocuses on his own companies on our tech news briefing podcast on Monday. Coming up, the Supreme Court rules that the White House can move ahead in pulling protections for half a million migrants living in the US. That's after the break. This episode is brought to you by Square. You're not just running a restaurant. That's after the break. sales plus the funding you need to go even bigger. And real time insights so you know what's working,

what's not and what's next. Because when you're doing big things, your tools should too. Visit square.ca to get started. The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to revoke temporary Biden-era protections that allow about 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to live and work in the U.S. The unsigned order today stops for now a lower court injunction that prevented the government from removing those protections. It is the second time in recent weeks the Supreme Court has allowed the Trump

administration to end temporary immigration protections while those moves are being challenged in court. Earlier this month, the High Court allowed the administration to proceed with ending separate temporary protections for a group of Venezuelans living in the U.S. Millions of Americans had their student loan payments put on pause during the pandemic. Now they're back on the hook again. That will strain personal finances since every month, money that they presumably used to spend elsewhere is going to pay off debt instead. And as economics reporter Justin Lehart told our Your Money Briefing podcast,

it will also be a challenge for the U.S. economy. Every penny that you have to pay to pay down your debt is a penny that you're not spending on something else. So, you know, that will weigh on the economy. Morgan Stanley economists estimate that it will knock about one tenth of a percentage point out of GDP. It could be more than that. The bigger concern right there is that it's not a huge drag on the economy, but it is a drag on the economy. And this is an economy that is facing, you know, other issues, primarily tariffs, but also reductions in government spending, immigration restrictions, and so on and so forth. So it just adds to the things that are pushing against the economy and could

make for slower growth this year and next. You can hear more on today's episode of Your Money Briefing. And on Sunday, we'll have a special bonus episode of Your Money Briefing. In Keeping It Money, we'll share personal stories that offer even more insight on your money habits and goals, and take a deep dive into ways that you can make some extra cash. A scam that the FBI says involves thousands of North Korean workers has brought hundreds of millions of dollars into the country every year. International sanctions have frozen the flow of funds there, so North Korea has gotten

creative in its quest for cash. One way they've gone about it is to use some of America's remote work opportunities to start laptop farms in states across the US. Bob McMillan covers computer security, hackers, and privacy for the Wall Street Journal. He joined our tech news briefing podcast to explain why North Korea is interested in these workers. There are three things they want. First and foremost, they want money. Their regime is sanctioned. They have a hard time trading with anyone in the West. And they need cash. They need cash for their weapons program, for example. And the FBI estimates

that they are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year just from paychecks, from companies hiring these North Koreans who, by all accounts, some are terrible workers and some are like not bad, some last month or even years at these companies. And so they found sort of a hack of our remote work situation right now. So that's the first thing they want is money. The second thing, they want more money. So quite often they'll exfiltrate data, they'll steal your corporate secrets, your source code, customer information, and then they will threaten to dump it once you fire them. And so they'll extort you.

So that's number two. And then the third case is murky, but the FBI suspects that they are also conducting espionage. So they've hit aerospace companies. There are certain types of companies that might have secrets that the North Korean regime would be interested in. So those are the three things they're doing. For more on this story, listen to today's episode of Tech News Briefing. And that's what's News for this week. Tomorrow, you can look out for our weekly Markets Wrap-Up, What's News in Markets.

Then on Sunday, we'll be looking at the military-industrial battle between the U.S. and China. That's in What's News Sunday. And we'll be back with our regular show on Monday morning. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansi with supervising producer Michael Kosmides. Michael Laval wrote our theme music. Aisha Al-Muslim is our development producer. Scott Salloway and Chris Inslee are our deputy editors. And Falana Patterson is The Wall Street Journal's head of news audio.

I'm Pierre Bienemé. Thanks for listening.