Analysis: Trump’s plan for a Musk-led efficiency commission could give CEO influence over rules governing his work and wealth

If Donald Trump is elected president, billionaire Elon Musk will head a government efficiency commission with sweeping powers that could potentially give him the power to change the rules of corporate America, including a broad range of industries in which his companies compete.

Trump announced the plan Thursday, including Musk’s role, and said he wants to see recommendations for “drastic reforms,” starting with crackdowns on fraud and improper payments that would target the “entire federal government.” The commission would give Musk, who runs rocket company SpaceX, electric car maker Tesla, tech companies X and xAI and several others, a chance to design a narrower government that Republicans often champion, but could see him create rules that directly affect his own work and wealth.

Musk repeatedly suggested the creation of a government efficiency commission in a public conversation with Trump on the social media platform X in August, saying that government spending should be limited to reasonable levels and that Musk himself was willing to help. Trump responded in the conversation that Musk was the “biggest cutter” of jobs.

Presidential commissions have been established on a number of issues, such as when President Joe Biden appointed one to explore ideas for reforming the Supreme Court, said Nikolas Guggenberger, an assistant professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center whose work focuses on antitrust, law and technology. But Musk’s significant, billion-dollar relationship with the U.S. government makes this a different matter.

“He has a big company that sells electric vehicles, he has a big company that sells satellites, he has a social media platform. In all of those areas, you can imagine that the advice is tainted by the fact that he has strong economic interests,” Guggenberger said.

Trump, of course, provided few details about how the commission would operate, but he described it as conducting audits and making recommendations, something it has tried to do before. “There have been many, many audits and recommendations about performance,” said Cristina Chaplain, former director of the Government Accountability Office. In addition, changing laws and policies is complicated. She added that while business people could bring a fresh perspective, “it often clashes with the reality of government operations and the laws and regulations that apply to them.”

Musk has chafed for years at what he sees as government inefficiencies, and his own corporations are subject to heavy regulation: SpaceX must get approval to launch rockets and introduce new technologies; auto regulators are investigating the safety of Tesla’s self-driving technology; and health agencies must approve most work by his brain-implant startup Neuralink.

Some investors would welcome his influence in Washington.

“Musk has cleaned up Twitter. He would also cut government spending,” said Triple D Trading analyst Dennis Dick, who is long on Tesla, referring to Musk’s massive job cuts when he took over the social media company.

Musk’s view of efficiency in the space sector and elsewhere could prompt actions that hurt rivals, some space experts say. That could include seeing government efforts to retain multiple rocket suppliers as wasteful, for example.

“A lot of people are concerned about Musk, simply because of the policies he promotes, the statements he makes and the fights he gets into with governments,” said Tim Farrar, a satellite industry analyst.

Investors often ask if Musk is doing too much. “He’s going to fragment and try to streamline government, and also run an electric car company, a space company, the Boring Company and Twitter? Something would have to change,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of research firm AutoForecast Solutions.

“I can’t imagine Elon Musk volunteering to work for a president who was planning to shut down his business,” Fiorani said, adding that the electric vehicle market could benefit.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment, but wrote on the X efficiency commission’s website: “This is very much needed.”

Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group that grew out of President Ronald Reagan’s commission, said there was precedent for massive savings. Also, hiring more directors would spread the responsibility.

“If the right team was working on this full time, the chair of those task forces wouldn’t be the one working on this every minute of every day,” he said. “If it was someone of Elon Musk’s stature, that would help bring in other CEOs, other independent, non-governmental people to come in and investigate the actions of the federal government.”