“He can make recommendations, but ultimately the decisions are made by government officials,” Painter said. Trump’s campaign and Musk’s companies didn’t respond to requests for comment. Here’s how Musk could benefit from Trump’s presidency: SpaceX If there’s one Musk business that could profit the most from the incoming Trump administration, it’s SpaceX. Advertisement The company, which announced this year it was moving its headquarters from Hawthorne to Texas, already has received at least $21 billion in federal funds since its 2002 founding, according to government contracting research firm The Pulse. That includes contracts for launching military satellites, servicing the International Space Station and building a lunar lander. However, that figure could be dwarfed by a federal initiative to fund a Mars mission, which is the stated goal of SpaceX. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon space capsule lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday. (Associated Press) “Elon Musk is wealthy, but he’s not wealthy enough to completely fund humans to Mars. It needs to be a public, private partnership, because of the tens of billions of dollars that this would cost, or even hundreds of billions dollars,” said Laura Forczyk, executive director of space industry consulting firm Astralytical. SpaceX has already made big strides testing his Starship rocket, the most powerful ever built. NASA envisions employing the rocket in its Artemis program to return humans to the moon, but it has been designed to have enough thrust to propel a spacecraft to Mars. What’s more, Trump, during his first presidency, speculated on Twitter about why the United States was focusing on the moon instead of Mars. Still, there are technical challenges, with SpaceX yet to complete the $4-billion Starship lunar lander, which would have to be modified for Mars. And without a pressing geopolitical threat, Congress may be unwilling to spend more on space exploration, as it did during the 1960s with the Apollo program, Forczyk said. Advertisement Should a Mars project not materialize, SpaceX could still reap rewards in the next four years. For example, the Federal Communications Commission denied SpaceX nearly $900 million in federal subsidies to provide rural broadband access through its Starlink satellite network. Under new FCC leadership, Forczyk sees that being reversed. SpaceX also has Starlink contracts with the military, including a $70-million award from the U.S. Space Force last year, according to Space News. Tesla Trump’s policies could reduce the sales of electric vehicles, but with Musk’s influence, his administration’s policies could boost Tesla — though not with federal funding. For example, Trump, who tempered criticism of electric vehicles after Musk backed him, might end a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles. That would hurt Tesla’s unprofitable rivals that rely more on the tax credits to lure customers. “Tesla is the only automaker that has the scale and scope to price vehicles in a $30,000-to-$40,000 range and make significant profits,” Ives said. “It would essentially take competition out of the market.” Trump’s Republican administration also is considering imposing tariffs on Mexico and China, which could make cars more expensive. Ives said he expects Trump to make exceptions for Tesla and Apple so they’re not hit by a tax on imported goods. Advertisement Tesla receives only a smattering of federal contracts, according to USAspending.gov, a database that tracks U.S. government spending. A Tesla store at Cherry Creek Mall in Denver on Feb. 9, 2019. (David Zalubowski / Associated Press) This year, Tesla received at least $2.8 million from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation through a federally funded program to deploy EV charging stations. From 2022 to 2024, Tesla and its subsidiaries were awarded at least $631,800 in federal contracts mainly to provide vehicles for the U.S. embassies in Singapore, Iceland and Thailand, the data showed. The pioneering electric vehicle maker, which saw its stock surge after Trump’s win, has clashed with regulators over safety concerns around its self-driving software. Musk, who has vowed to cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending, could pressure regulators looking into his companies.