Elon Musk has announced he is forming a new political party as his dispute with US President Donald Trump took another fractious turn.
A day after asking his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created, Mr Musk declared in a post on Saturday: "Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom. By a factor of two to one, you want a new political party and you shall have it."
The announcement came after Mr Trump signed the "big, beautiful" tax-cut spending bill into law on Friday, legislation Mr Musk strongly opposes.
Mr Musk, who became the world's richest man thanks to his Tesla car company and SpaceX satellite firm, spent hundreds of millions on Mr Trump's re-election and led the Department of Government Efficiency from the start of the president's second term, aimed at slashing the administration's spending.
Mr Musk previously vowed to launch a new political party to challenge legislators who campaigned on reducing federal spending only to vote for the bill, which experts say will pile an extra $3.4 trillion over a decade on to the US deficit. The US President threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Mr Musk's companies receive from the federal government.
"They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth," Mr Musk said.
Republicans have expressed concern that the Trump-Musk feud could hurt the party's chances of protecting their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.
Mr Trump said he believed Mr Musk's criticism of his so-called Big, Beautiful Bill was due to measures that cut subsidies and support for electric vehicles.
