Elon Musk says America should 'mind its own business' rather than meddle abroad

Billionaire tycoon pledges to 'delete entire agencies' of the US federal government in appearance at the World Governments Summit in Dubai

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Elon Musk says America must stay out of most foreign affairs and “mind its own business”.

US President Donald Trump's de facto right hand man said the largely Arab audience at the World Governments Summit in Dubai would understand where he was coming from, after a series of wars in the Middle East. He was addressing the summit from the US via a video link.

“There are times the United States has been kind of pushy in international affairs, which might resonate with some members of the audience,” he said. “America should mind its own business,” he added, rather than push for “regime change” in other countries.

Doge's slash-and-burn campaign

Mr Musk spoke before a packed audience on the final day of the summit. He was in conversation with Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, who asked about his aggressive efficiency campaign.

Mr Musk said there was strong support for his Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) to slash government agencies and red tape. Those efforts could leave tens of thousands out of work.

“The people are very supportive, There are certain elements of the bureaucracy that are not supportive because we are removing them from the government sector to the private sector,” he added. “We're moving people from low-productivity roles in the public sector to higher productivity in the private sector.”

We really have to delete entire agencies – many of them

Elon Musk

Wearing a T-shirt that read “Tech Support”, he said technology would be used to make the public sector more efficient. He said his top priority was “reducing the size of government and making the government much more accountable to the people”.

“We really have here rule of the bureaucracy as opposed to rule of the people – democracy,” he added. “We want to restore the rule of the people.”

There is a need to “delete entire agencies” rather than leave some people behind, he said. “We really have to delete entire agencies – many of them.”

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Mr Musk has spoken to the summit twice in the past. But his appearance this time came after weeks of cutting through large swathes of the federal government since taking the helm at Doge.

He has suspended career officials, sacked thousands of USAid staff and sought to get access to sensitive databases, publicly tweeting out what he says are examples of egregious, unnecessary spending.

'Everything is illegal, we want to change that'

Mr Musk said America today was in a position in which “everything is illegal, and nothing is permitted”. He said that “war” normally follows excessive constraints and red tape, and suggested his efficiency drive is needed to satisfy public demand.

Cutting public spending and boosting productivity could double growth in the economy, which was less than 2.5 per cent last year, to roughly the levels recorded in China.

“Maybe the economy can grow at 4 or 5 per cent. The net effect of that would be no inflation from 2026 to 2027.” This could boost the economy by $1 trillion, he suggested.

OpenAI gone 'too far' in quest for profit

Mr Musk was asked about his bid to buy ChatGPT owner OpenAI for nearly $100 billion last week, which the firm rejected – on X, no less. He claimed that Sam Altman's OpenAI has gone “too far” in an alleged quest for profits.

“What they're trying to do now is completely delete the non-profit. And that seems really going too far,” he said. “I provided all of the funding for OpenAI at the beginning. It was meant to be open-source.

“If you fund a non-profit to preserve the ambers in a rainforest, but instead they turn into a lumber company and chop down all the trees for wood … OpenAI is supposed to be not-for-profit. Why does this change need to occur?”