USA: Authorities start massive job cuts – Elon Musk receives “many death threats”

The richest man in the world is the focus of Donald Trump's first cabinet meeting. During the meeting, the US president asked the group: "Is anyone unhappy with Elon?"

Elon Musk speaks during the first cabinet meeting of US President Donald Trump. Uncredited/Pool/AP/dpa

US President Donald Trump held the first cabinet meeting of his second term in the White House on Wednesday - and gave his adviser Elon Musk a leading role. The multi-billionaire called on the cabinet to "act quickly" to reduce the US federal budget deficit. Media previously reported on tensions in the government over Musk's drastic measures - which Trump tried to sweep aside.

Trump called on Musk to stand up and report on the controversial program of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency ( Doge ). "If we don't do this, the United States will go bankrupt," the world's richest man told Cabinet members, adding that he was getting "very harsh criticism" and "a lot of death threats, by the way." His job was "simple technical support," the SpaceX and Tesla boss said at one point.

Elon Musk pushes for mass layoffs

Musk dismissed US media reports that some cabinet members were upset about emails from the Doge team to their federal employees demanding proof of performance. Musk said it was the "best cabinet ever" and thanked everyone for their support.

More than two million U.S. federal government employees received an email on Saturday asking them to explain what they had accomplished during the past work week by Monday night. If they did not do so, they would be fired, Musk announced. Several agencies, including the Department of Defense, instructed their employees not to respond to the emails for the time being.

Trump asks: “Is anyone unhappy with Elon?”

During the cabinet meeting, the 78-year-old president also turned to the assembled ministers, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. "Is anyone unhappy with Elon? If so, we're kicking them out of here," Trump said to laughter and applause from the cabinet.

Musk is supposed to radically reduce the size of the US government and has more power than anyone else in the US president's inner circle. He does not hold a ministerial post, but the status of a "special government employee".

Trump himself announced at the cabinet meeting that the workforce of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would probably be reduced by 65 percent. This was promised to him by the new head of the agency, Lee Zeldin. According to Trump, the agency employs more than 17,000 of the approximately two million US federal employees.

US federal agencies to begin massive job cuts

Meanwhile, the White House budget director, Russell Vought, instructed all US federal agencies to prepare for a massive reduction in civil service positions . In a circular, he called for a desk to be set up for layoffs, for planned vacancies not to be filled, and for employees who are "not efficient enough" to be let go. Vought is one of the main authors of the controversial "Project 2025" program for a comprehensive restructuring of the US government apparatus.

"We are shrinking the government. We have to," Trump said during the cabinet meeting, adding: "We are bloated. We are sloppy. We have a lot of people who are not doing their jobs." The effects of the layoffs will be felt across the country. About 80 percent of federal employees live outside the Washington metropolitan area, reports the Associated Press (AP). Government services - patent approvals, food inspections, park maintenance and more - could be affected depending on the nature of the cuts, it is said. Resistance is therefore expected.

Labor unions, Democratic leaders and other organizations have tried to slow Trump down with lawsuits, with some success, while Republicans are increasingly concerned about how a clear-cutting strategy could affect their voters. "Once that damage is done, it's going to be incredibly difficult to rebuild the capacity of these organizations," Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, told AP. "You can't just flip the switch and everything will go back to the way it was."

Trump announces tariffs of 25 percent on EU products

Trump also announced during the meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would come to Washington on Friday to sign a raw materials deal. Trump also announced that he would "soon" impose tariffs of 25 percent on EU goods , claiming that the European Union was created "to rip off the United States."

At the meeting, Trump was surrounded by members of the administration who, in many cases, had been chosen for their loyalty. Many were successfully confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate - after undergoing unusually extensive questioning about their personal conduct or professional experience.