French President Emmanuel Macron labels Elon Musk ‘oversubsidised’ by US taxpayers, sparking a retort from the billionaire over European state aid

ANTWERP: French President Emmanuel Macron cited US state support for Elon Musk’s Starlink as a key argument for major public investment in European industry.

Speaking at an industrial summit, he called for a “Buy European” competitiveness drive financed through joint EU borrowing.

Macron argued that massive public investment was the “only way” for Europe to compete economically with rivals like the US and China.

He highlighted the significant role of American taxpayer money in supporting private innovation.

“Everybody is fascinated by Starlink… But if you are lucid, Mr. Musk is probably one of the guys of the world who has had in his pockets the most… billions dollars of the American taxpayers in order to be subsidised,” Macron said.

He described Musk as “first an oversubsidised guy by the federal agency in the US,” calling the approach “super-innovative”.

Elon Musk quickly responded on his social media platform X, countering that European states subsidise their industries more heavily than the US does.

He defended the level of government support received by his companies Tesla and SpaceX.

“If you add up all the government funding Tesla and SpaceX have ever received, it is only about 1% of the combined value of the companies,” Musk stated.

He contrasted this with major US and European aerospace firms, claiming “the government money they have received ‘exceeds’ 100% of their value!”

 The Sun Malaysia