• Kelly Ortberg, the CEO of Boeing, said Elon Musk is a "brilliant guy."
• Ortberg said Musk was helping "in a big way" with Boeing's delayed Air Force One planes.
• The planes were supposed to be delivered in 2024 but have been plagued by multiple delays.

Kelly Ortberg, Boeing's CEO, said Elon Musk was helping "in a big way" with the company's delayed Air Force One planes.

"He's a brilliant guy, so he's able to pretty quickly ascertain the difference between technical requirements and things that we can move out of the way," Ortberg said of Musk while attending an investor conference organized by Barclays on Thursday.

"He's helping us in a big way. So I'm embracing that, working with the DOGE team to help us improve the delivery," Ortberg added, referencing the government efficiency commission headed by Musk.

Boeing and Musk did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Boeing was awarded a $3.9 billion contract to deliver "two completed Air Force One replacement aircraft" in 2018, during President Donald Trump's first term. In a statement at the time, the US Air Force said the new planes were to be delivered by 2024.

The delivery date has since been pushed back to at least 2027. Boeing has lost more than $2 billion on the project.

"Now they're not building the plane fast enough. I mean, they're actually in default, Boeing," Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired Tuesday.

"They've been building this thing forever. I don't know what's going on," Trump continued.

Last month, Ortberg said in an interview with CNBC that Boeing was working with Musk and DOGE "to figure out what can we do to pull up the schedule of that aircraft."

Musk has been outspoken about his views on Boeing. In December, Musk criticized Ortberg's predecessor, Dave Calhoun, and said Boeing is "on a much better track" with Ortberg at the helm. Calhoun was the CEO of Boeing from January 2020 to July 2024.

Boeing's shares fell by 2.83% when markets closed on Thursday. The company's shares have fallen by more than 10% over the past 12 months.

In January, Boeing reported a net loss of $3.86 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024. The company lost nearly $12 billion last year.

• Delta is giving $30,000 to every passenger who was on the flight that crash-landed on Monday.
• Delta could still be on the hook for more damages if passengers sue.
• All 80 people on board survived the incident.

Delta Air Lines has said it will be giving $30,000 to every passenger who was on board the flight that flipped upside down when it landed in Toronto on Monday.

Morgan Durrant, a spokesperson for Delta, told Business Insider on Wednesday that the "gesture has no strings attached and does not affect rights."

It's unclear when and how passengers will be able to claim the money from Delta.

Legal experts told BI that while Delta's payout is an act of goodwill, the airline could be on the hook for further damages if passengers choose to sue for more compensation.

Jae Woon Lee, an aviation law professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, pointed out to BI that Delta has an advance payment clause. Under that clause, Delta offers an advance payment of at least $21,000 if a passenger dies. It does not specify a minimum payment in the case of injury.

"The $30,000 advance payment offer by Delta is a good start in the right direction, as long as passengers do not have to give up any of their rights for full and fair compensation in the future," said Robert Hedrick, an aviation accident attorney from the Seattle-based Aviation Law Group. Hedrick is taking passenger cases from the Delta flight.

Erin R. Applebaum, an aviation accident attorney in New York, said such payments are "fairly typical in major aviation accidents."

Applebaum and Hedrick said passengers should consult with an aviation attorney before accepting the money to ensure it comes with no strings attached.

Both attorneys said Delta's payout isn't taxable under US law, though Hedrick said there might be some exceptions depending on the circumstance.

Delta Flight 4819 — which was operated by Delta's subsidiary, Endeavor Air — crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday. The flight from Minneapolis was carrying 76 passengers and four crew members.

All 80 people on board survived. The wreckage of the plane was removed from the airport on Wednesday evening.

"Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved," Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Montreal Convention

Alan Tan, an aviation law professor at the National University of Singapore, told BI the payment was "appropriate as an advance gesture, particularly for passengers who have minimal or no injuries."

He added that passengers could still sue Delta for more compensation if they could prove loss or damage.

Tan said the rights of Delta's passengers were protected under the Montreal Convention, an international agreement that holds airlines liable for any physical injuries or deaths that occur on international flights. Both the US and Canada have signed the agreement.

Under the Montreal Convention, the $30,000 isn't a recognition of Delta's liability, Tan said.

How Singapore Airlines handled its turbulence incident in May

In May, a Singapore Airlines flight traveling from London to Singapore was hit with severe turbulence while flying over Myanmar. Dozens of passengers were injured in the incident, and one passenger died of a suspected heart attack.

Singapore Airlines gave every passenger a refund and offered $10,000 to passengers with minor injuries.

Singapore Airlines said it would meet with those who sustained serious injuries and "discuss a compensation offer to meet each of their specific circumstances." The airline said it would also offer them an advance payment of $25,000 to "address their immediate needs."

"This will be part of the final compensation that these passengers will receive," Singapore Airlines wrote in a statement in June.

February 20, 11:30 p.m. — This story has been updated with comments from Jae Woon Lee, a law professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

• HP is acquiring parts of Humane's business for $116 million.
• Humane said it was discontinuing its AI Pin "effective immediately."
• The company said the devices will stop connecting to their servers at the end of the month.

AI startup Humane said on Tuesday that it was discontinuing its AI Pin and selling parts of its business to HP for $116 million.

The transaction, which is expected to close at the end of February, will see HP acquire Humane's employees, software, patents, and patent applications, Humane said in a statement on Tuesday.

Humane said on the same day that it would be discontinuing the AI Pin "effective immediately." The company said in an update on its website that it was also halting device sales.

"Your AI Pin will continue to function normally until 12 p.m. PST on February 28, 2025," the company wrote in its update, adding that the devices will stop connecting to its servers thereafter.

Humane said in a separate FAQ on the AI Pin that it will offer refunds to customers whose devices were "shipped on or after November 15th, 2024." All refund requests must be submitted by February 27, the company added.

Following the acquisition, Humane's employees and co-founders, Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri will become a part of HP's new AI innovation lab, HP IQ. Bongiorno and Chaudhri, who are married to each other, were longtime Apple employees before they left to start Humane in 2019.

The new division will be "focused on building an intelligent ecosystem across HP's products and services for the future of work," HP said in a statement on Tuesday.

Representatives for Humane and HP did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Launched in November 2023, the AI Pin was Humane's first product. Humane pitched the pin as an AI personal assistant to customers. Besides taking calls and answering texts through voice commands, users could also interact with the pin via its laser-projected display.

The AI Pin was included in Time magazine's list of best inventions in October 2023, and was hotly anticipated even before its debut.

However, the AI Pin was hit with negative reviews over its design and features. In October, Humane lowered the price of the AI Pin from $699 to $499.

When asked about the criticisms surrounding the AI Pin, Bongiorno and Chaudhri said in a statement to BI in April that it was only the "beginning of the story."

"We have an ambitious road map with software refinements, new features, additional partnerships, and our SDK," Humane's co-founders said. "All of this will enable your AI Pin to become smarter and more powerful over time."

• Tesla is hiring for roles based in Mumbai, India.
• The recruitment efforts come just days after Elon Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Tesla has long sought to break into India, the world's third-largest auto market.

Tesla is amping up its recruitment efforts in India just days after the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, met with Elon Musk.

Tesla listed 13 roles based in Mumbai on its careers page. The positions were also advertised on the company's LinkedIn page on Monday.

The roles range across three categories — vehicle service, sales and customer support, and operations and business support.

All the listings show that the jobs, which are a mix of full time and part time roles, are based out of suburban Mumbai.

The listings also hinted at the opening of a Tesla store and a delivery center in India. For instance, the "Store Manager" listing says the new hire will be "responsible for overseeing and driving sales and sales operations."

Tesla is also hiring people for delivery operations work. Staff under this designation are expected to "oversee and coordinate administrative responsibilities at the delivery center."

Musk met with Modi in Washington on Thursday. The Indian premier also met with President Donald Trump during his two-day visit to the US.

It is unclear if Modi and Musk discussed Tesla's entry into the Indian market during their meeting. Modi wrote in an X post on Thursday that he had a "very good meeting" with the Tesla CEO.

"We discussed various issues, including those he is passionate about such as space, mobility, technology and innovation," Modi added.

Trump told reporters on Thursday that while he wasn't sure why Musk had met Modi, he assumed it was because Musk "wants to do business in India."

Representatives for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Tesla has been planning to enter the Indian market for close to a decade. In April 2016, the company started accepting pre-orders for its vehicles.

Then, in January 2021, Tesla registered a company in India, just weeks after the country's transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, said Tesla would launch its operations there in early 2021. India is the world's third-largest auto market.

But those plans were put on hold. Musk said in July 2021 it was difficult for Tesla to break into the Indian market because the country's "import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country."

"Still working through a lot of challenges with the government," Musk wrote in an X post in January 2022 when asked if Tesla was still planning to launch in India.

In March, India lowered its import taxes on EVs made by companies that commit to invest at least $500 million and start making cars in the country within three years.

Musk was scheduled to visit India in April and announce Tesla's entry into the country. However, the trip was postponed at the last minute.

"Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year," Musk wrote in an X post in April.

• A Delta Air Lines plane flipped with 80 people on board as it landed in Toronto Monday.
• The Bombardier CRJ900 was flying from Minneapolis, operated by Delta's Endeavor Air.
• The airline said Monday evening 18 customers with injuries were transported to hospitals.

A Delta Air Lines jet flipped with 80 people on board as it landed at a Toronto airport Monday, leaving emergency crews scrambling to reach the injured in the upside-down aircraft.

All passengers and crew were "accounted for," Toronto Pearson International Airport said. Delta Air Lines said 18 injured people were taken to hospitals. A Peel Regional Police spokesperson said the Greater Toronto Airports Authority was investigating.

Photos on X appeared to show the plane upside down and at least one wing missing. More photos of the wreck trickled out later. Delta said there were 76 passengers and four crew on board.

"Initial reports indicate there are no fatalities and 18 customers with injuries have been transported to area hospitals. Our primary focus is taking care of those impacted," Delta said Monday at around 5:40 p.,m. ET.

At around 10:30 p.m. ET, the company said, "Some of the customers initially transported to area hospitals have been released."

Ornge, an air ambulance service in Ontario, told Business Insider that three people were transported to Toronto hospitals with critical injuries, including a child, a man in his 60s, and a woman in her 40s.

The Bombardier CRJ900, which was flying from Minneapolis as Flight 4819, was operated by Delta's wholly-owned regional subsidiary, Endeavor Air.

"Everything just kind of went sideways," Pete Carlson, a passenger on the flight, told Canada's national broadcaster CBC.

"One minute you're landing, kind of waiting to see your friends and your people, and the next minute you're physically upside down," he said.

Carlson described the sound of "cement and metal" as the plane crashed.

Flights to Toronto Pearson were halted due to the emergency but resumed at 5 p.m. local time. More than 330 flights were delayed on Monday, and nearly 400 flights were canceled, per FlightAware, a flight-tracking website.

"The airport remains open. Passengers are advised to check their flight status before coming to the airport," the airport wrote in an X post on Monday night.

Delta said that it is working with customers flying from, to, or through Toronto and that customers should check their flight status via the Delta app.

US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in an X post that investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration were traveling to Toronto and that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada would lead the investigation.

Canada's transport minister Anita Anand thanked first responders and airport staff in an X post. In an earlier post, she said she had spoken to Duffy about the crash and that the FAA was sending investigators to support the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

A bad few months for aviation safety

The Delta incident comes two and a half weeks after an American Airlines flight collided with a military Black Hawk helicopter over Washington D.C., killing 67 people.

The event in Toronto highlights the ongoing concerns over aviation safety. Despite the incident happening in Canada, the plane was operated by a US airline regulated by the FAA.

On Monday, the Trump Administration fired hundreds of FAA staff, according to the workers' union, including people in the safety department.

Among those fired was Jason King, whose work directly involved addressessing safety concerns, the Washington television station, WUSA, reported.

He said his team's work included investigating the midair collision over D.C.

The Delta and American flights join a string of aviation safety events since December. An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer plane crashed on Christmas Day in Kazakhstan, with some blaming Russian air defenses. Thirty-eight people died.

A few days later, a Boeing 737 operated by the South Korean budget carrier Jeju Air crashed in South Korea. 179 people died, and two people survived.

A small general aviation plane crashed in Pennsylvania a few days after the American accident, killing six on the plane and one on the ground.

And on February 6, an Alaskan regional airline crashed in western Alaska, killing 10 people.

• Blue Origin CEO David Limp explained why the rocket company was laying off about 10% of workers.
• He said rapid growth led to bureaucracy; now it's thinning management layers and cutting engineers.
• The Jeff Bezos-owned company is joining tech's flattening trend.

Another Jeff Bezos-founded company wants fewer middle managers.

Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, said on Thursday that it was laying off about 10% of its workers and thinning out management layers.

"We grew and hired incredibly fast in the last few years, and with that growth came more bureaucracy and less focus than we needed," CEO David Limp told employees in an email obtained by Business Insider.

"Sadly, this resulted in eliminating some positions in engineering, R&D, and program/project management and thinning out our layers of management," Limp added.

Blue Origin, founded by Bezos in 2000, has been playing catch-up with Elon Musk's SpaceX. On January 16, Blue Origin launched New Glenn, its first orbital rocket.

SpaceX developed its first orbital rocket, the Falcon 9 v1.0, in 2005. The rocket made its debut launch in 2010.

In December, Bezos told the journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times DealBook Summit that he thought Blue Origin was "not a very good business yet."

"I think it's going to be the best business that I have ever been involved in, but it's going to take a while," Bezos added.

The move by Limp, who worked for more than a decade at Amazon, echoes Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's desire to have fewer middle managers — part of a wider tech flattening trend.

Jassy told Amazon employees in September that he wanted to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by 15% by the end of March, which he argued would "decrease bureaucracy" and improve the company's speed.

Meta has made similar moves. In 2023, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company didn't want a structure "that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work."

Read Blue Origin CEO David Limp's memo:

From: David Limp

Date: Thursday, February 13, 2025, at 7:10 a.m.

Subject: Difficult Org News — Changes To Our Team

Folks,

We just finished this morning's meeting, during which I gave an update on our organization. As I mentioned, we have made the tough decision to reduce our workforce by about 10%. The impact this has is not lost on any of us—we are saying goodbye to our friends and colleagues who have helped us build Blue into what it is today.

I know this is a lot to absorb, and I would like to explain how we got here. Over the last few months, as a leadership team, we have worked together to define our 2025 Annual Operating Plan and growth strategy. Our primary focus in 2025 and beyond is to scale our manufacturing output and launch cadence with speed, decisiveness, and efficiency for our customers. We grew and hired incredibly fast in the last few years, and with that growth came more bureaucracy and less focus than we needed. It also became clear that the makeup of our organization must change to ensure our roles are best aligned with executing these priorities. Sadly, this resulted in eliminating some positions in engineering, R&D, and program/project management and thinning out our layers of management.

While I acknowledge that these messages are better delivered personally and individually, the reach of these changes across multiple locations and teams makes that difficult. We will notify impacted employees immediately via their work and personal email addresses of their status with Blue. We will also email employees who are not impacted to confirm their employment with Blue. Both emails will arrive by 7:30 A.M. PT/10:30 A.M. ET today. While our sites are open, I encourage you to work from home for the rest of the day if your role allows you to do so.

We are doing what we can to support everyone impacted. The email notifications will provide support details, which include severance packages, COBRA coverage, career support services, and access to counseling through our Employee Assistance Program.

Let me add that I am extremely confident in the enormous opportunities in front of us and have never been more optimistic about our mission. We will continue to invest, invent, and hire hundreds of positions in areas that will help us achieve our goals and best serve our customers. We will be a stronger, faster, and more customer-focused company that consistently meets and exceeds our commitments. This year alone, we will land on the Moon, deliver a record number of incredible engines, and fly New Glenn and New Shepard on a regular cadence.

To our colleagues who are impacted today, thank you so much for your hard work and passion for our mission. I hope we all support one another with grace and empathy while upholding our leadership principles during this time.

Dave

• Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, said he prefers not to compete with Elon Musk and Tesla.
• Musk said in January that Tesla will launch a paid robotaxi service in Austin this summer.
• Tesla will benefit from having its vehicle offer rides on Uber as well, Khosrowshahi said.

Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, says he's optimistic his company will be able to work with Tesla and Elon Musk when it rolls out robotaxis.

Khosrowshahi was asked about Tesla during an interview with technology and media analyst, Ben Thompson for his newsletter Stratechery. The interview was published on Thursday.

"Yeah listen, no one wants to compete against Tesla or Elon, if you can help it," Khosrowshahi told Thompson. "Their capabilities are pretty extraordinary, but I think the same economic laws apply to them."

Musk announced Tesla's robotaxi, also known as the Cybercab, during a launch event in October. Musk told investors during an earnings call in January that a paid robotaxi service will be launching in Austin, Texas this June.

Khosrowshahi said in his interview with Thompson that Tesla will benefit from having its vehicles offer rides on Uber.

"Then, that Tesla that is both on Uber, and by the way, they could be both on Uber and the network, that is going to create much, much more revenue," Khosrowshahi said.

"So it all comes back to revenue generation, you have a box with wheels, you want to maximize the revenue of that box in order to reduce your cost of capital, and economic laws apply to Tesla, just as they do to any other car company," he added.

Khosrowshahi told Thompson that the same rule applies to the food business, with restaurants using several delivery services to reach out to more customers.

"McDonald's has its own app, and has an incredible brand, has a lot of capital, has terrific reach. They still work with Uber Eats and DoorDash, because they want to drive utilization of the box called the restaurant, that same economic value is going to be true going forward," Khosrowshahi said.

"Ultimately, we're hoping that my charm and the economic argument gets Tesla to work with us as well," he continued. "If they want a direct channel, no problem."

Uber and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

This isn't the first time Khosrowshahi has expressed interest in partnering with Musk and Tesla. Uber has partnerships with self-driving vehicle makers like Waymo and Wayve.

"Obviously, competing with Elon Musk is no easy matter, and we take nothing for granted," Khosrowshahi told the Financial Times in October.

"I don't think this is going to be a winner-take-all marketplace. We believe in the spirit of partnership. We'll see what Tesla does, and either we'll compete with them, or we'll work with them, or a combination thereof," he added.

It remains unclear when exactly Tesla's ambitions for the robotaxi can be realized given the regulatory challenges faced by self-driving vehicles.

Phil Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, told BI in October that it will not be easy for Tesla to get the federal government's approval to sell a vehicle without a steering wheel.

Tesla would also have get approvals from individual states if it wants to expand the robotaxi network's coverage, Koopman added.

Musk told investors in January that while he hopes that Tesla will have unsupervised full-self-driving vehicles in most countries by the end of 2026, that could also be "limited simply by regulatory issues."

"That's my prediction with the best data that I have right now," Musk said.

• The State Department said it was planning to buy $400 million worth of armored Teslas this year.
• It now says it will be buying "Armored Electric Vehicles" instead of specifically Teslas.
• Musk's companies have received billions of dollars from government contracts and subsidies.

The State Department has scrubbed mention of armored Teslas from its 2025 procurement forecast.

The procurement document previously contained a line item that read: "Armored Tesla (Production Units)" — a reference to products from Elon Musk's electric vehicle company, Tesla. It was listed as a five-year contract and valued at $400 million, making it the biggest item on the list.

The document was titled "Department of State Procurement Forecast Year 2025 (Revised 12/23/2024)." The Tesla line item had last been revised on December 13.

As of Wednesday night at 9:12 p.m. EST, the line item has been revised. It now reads "Armored Electric Vehicles." It's still listed as a five-year contract worth $400 million.

The document is now called "Department of State Procurement Forecast Year 2025."

The latest version of the document doesn't mention Tesla.

"I'm pretty sure Tesla isn't getting $400M. No one mentioned it to me, at least," Musk wrote on X on Thursday about the department's revised forecast.

News of the $400 million State Department contract with Tesla was reported by Drop Site News on Wednesday.

It's unclear when the procurement list was first released. The State Department updates its forecast in the first quarter of every fiscal year.

When contacted for comment, a State Department spokesperson told Business Insider that no government contract for armored electric vehicles has been awarded to Tesla or any other vehicle manufacturer.

The Biden administration had instructed the State Department to assess if private companies would be interested in producing armored vehicles, the spokesperson added. Only one company responded to the department's request for information, the spokesperson said.

There are no current plans to hold an official bid, the spokesperson said.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the change.

Procurement list details

The earlier version of the forecast was made under the Biden administration, weeks before President Donald Trump took office on January 20.

It didn't specify which Tesla vehicle model it was commissioning.

Tesla produces several EVs, including its Model 3 and Model S sedans and Model Y and Model X SUVs. The company also produces the Cybertruck, a stainless steel pickup truck that Musk has said is bulletproof.

Both the original and newly revised documents list an anticipated award date of September 30 for the contract. Both versions of the forecast also include orders from other automakers, including a $40 million contract for armored BMW SUVs, the X5 and X7.

Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment.

Musk's companies have received billions from government contracts

Musk's companies have done several deals with the government. His companies have received billions of dollars from government contracts and subsidies.

Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer of Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, said in November that the company had $22 billion in government contracts.

Musk is now the public face of Trump's cost-cutting efforts within the government, serving as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency.

The White House has said Musk is a "special government employee" and isn't compensated for his services. The classification allows Musk to maintain his sprawling business interests, which include companies such as Tesla and SpaceX.

On Tuesday, Musk joined Trump at a press conference in the Oval Office, where he was asked about the conflicts of interest he could face from running DOGE and his companies simultaneously.

"No, because you have to look at the individual contract. First of all, I'm not the one filing the contract. It's people at SpaceX or something will be putting for the contract," Musk said.

"And I'd like to say if you see any contract where it was awarded to SpaceX and it wasn't by far the best value for money for the taxpayer, let me know, because every one of them was," he added.

Trump said at a press conference on February 3 that Musk wouldn't be allowed to deal with government matters where there could be a conflict of interest.

"If there's a conflict, then we won't let him get near it," Trump said.

February 13, 2025: This story has been updated to reflect a change the State Department made in its 2025 procurement forecast after the story was published. The procurement forecast now lists $400 million of "Armored Electric Vehicles," not $400 million of "Armored Tesla (Production Units)."

• Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, said the Trump administration's tariffs will hurt the auto industry.
• Trump's tariffs on Mexico and Canada "would be devastating" for Ford, said Farley.
• Farley said South Korean, Japanese, and European automakers would benefit from Trump's tariffs.

Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, said President Donald Trump's latest tariffs on Mexico and Canada could deal a serious blow to his company and the auto industry.

Farley, who was speaking at a conference organized by Wolfe Research in New York on Tuesday, said that while Trump has talked about making the "US auto industry stronger," the president's trade policies would hit Ford hard.

"So far, what we are seeing is a lot of cost and a lot of chaos," Farley told conference attendees.

Trump announced on February 1 that he would impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. The tariffs, which were meant to take effect on February 4, were delayed by a month after both countries agreed to tougher border control measures.

"If you look at the tariffs, let's be real honest, long term, a 25% tariff across the Mexico and Canadian border would blow a hole in the US industry that we have never seen," Farley said on Tuesday.

"And it frankly gives free rein to South Korean and Japanese and European companies that are bringing 1.5 million to 2 million vehicles into the US that wouldn't be subject to those Mexican and Canadian tariffs," Farley added. "It would be one of the biggest windfalls for those companies ever."

Farley added that Ford has made sure its finished vehicles and components comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. But "to have that kind of size of the tariff would be devastating," Farley said.

Representatives for Ford and the White House did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

This isn't the first time Farley has commented on Trump's tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Ford, along with other automakers like General Motors and Toyota, donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.

Farley told investors during an earnings call on February 5 that "there is no question" the tariffs would have a "huge impact" on the auto industry and result in higher prices for customers.

"What doesn't make sense to me is why are we having this conversation while Hyundai Kia is importing 600,000 units into the US with no incremental tariff, and why is Toyota able to import 0.5 million vehicles in the US with no incremental tariffs," Farley said during the earnings call.

"So, if we're going to have a tariff policy that lasts for a month or whatever it's going to be years, it better be comprehensive for our industry," Farley continued. "We can't just cherry-pick one place or the other because this is a bonanza for our import competitors."

On Monday, Trump announced 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. The US is the world's largest importer of steel and gets its supply mainly from Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.

• President Donald Trump signed a new executive order that will limit federal hiring.
• The order says that federal agencies can only hire one employee for every four employees that leave.
• Agency heads will have to work with Elon Musk's DOGE to reduce their staff, the order added.

President Donald Trump moved ahead with his goal of reducing the size of the government on Tuesday when he signed a new executive order to limit federal hiring.

The order said that each federal agency can "hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart."

The restriction will not apply to positions related to public safety, immigration enforcement, or law enforcement. It will take effect upon the expiration of the 90-day hiring freeze that Trump imposed on the federal workforce when he took office on January 20.

The order also said that agency heads will have to work with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to reduce the size of the federal workforce.

"There are too many federal employees. Excluding active-duty military and Postal Service employees, the federal workforce exceeds 2.4 million," the White House said in a fact sheet about the order that was published on Tuesday.

Speaking alongside Trump at the Oval Office, Musk said DOGE's cuts were "just common sense."

"The people voted for major government reform and that's what people are going to get," Musk said on Tuesday.

Representatives for the White House and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Trump has been stepping up on his efforts to shrink the federal workforce since the start of his second term.

Last month, the Trump administration gave federal employees from January 28 to February 6 to accept a buyout offer. The offer was given to all federal employees except those working in military, postal, immigration, and national security roles.

Last week, US District Judge George O'Toole Jr. extended the buyout deadline till Monday. O'Toole Jr. said during a court hearing on Monday that he will continue to pause Trump's buyout plan until he rules on its legality.

A spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management said on Monday that over 65,000 employees have accepted the offer. The OPM oversees the federal workforce.

• Trump said on Sunday that he'd ordered the Treasury to stop producing new pennies.
• Trump, in his post on Truth Social, called the production of pennies "wasteful."
• In 2023, pennies cost taxpayers $86 million, per the US Mint.

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt the production of new pennies.

"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

"Let's rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time," he added.

Trump's announcement comes weeks after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, criticized the costs of making pennies.

DOGE said in an X post on January 22 that producing pennies "cost US taxpayers over $179 million" in fiscal year 2023. Per the US Mint's 2023 report, pennies cost taxpayers $86 million — pennies and nickels combined cost nearly $179 million.

In 2024, the unit cost of producing and distributing a penny was 3.7 cents — far outweighing its face value, per the Mint.

From 2023 to 2024, the unit cost of pennies jumped by 20.2%, largely due to a rise in raw material prices. While pennies used to be made of pure copper, they are now 97.5% zinc, the Mint said.

Global zinc prices have risen by about 33% over the past five years, while copper prices have risen by about 47%.

For decades, Washington has sporadically talked about axing the penny.

In 2013, then-President Barack Obama said the coin was "a good metaphor for some of the larger problems" of the government.

"Anytime we're spending more money on something that people don't actually use, that's an example of something we should probably change," Obama said at the time.

In 2017, Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Sen. John McCain of Arizona introduced a bill that would have suspended the production of new pennies for a decade. The bill did not move forward.

• AI is going to become cheaper to use, says Sam Altman.
• The CEO of OpenAI said in a blog post that the cost of using AI will drop by 10 times every year.
• OpenAI announced Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment project, in January.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, says AI will be used more frequently as its costs continue to plummet.

"The cost to use a given level of AI falls about 10x every 12 months, and lower prices lead to much more use," Altman wrote in a blog post on Sunday.

"You can see this in the token cost from GPT-4 in early 2023 to GPT-4o in mid-2024, where the price per token dropped about 150x in that time period," he added. "Moore's law changed the world at 2x every 18 months; this is unbelievably stronger."

That was one of the three observations Altman made in his post, which focused on the development of AI.

Besides cost, Altman said that an AI model's intelligence is equal to the amount of resources used to develop it.

"It appears that you can spend arbitrary amounts of money and get continuous and predictable gains; the scaling laws that predict this are accurate over many orders of magnitude," Altman wrote.

Altman also said that there would be "no reason for exponentially increasing investment to stop in the near future" since the intelligence of AI models is growing at a "super-exponential" rate.

"If these three observations continue to hold true, the impacts on society will be significant," Altman wrote.

"The price of many goods will eventually fall dramatically (right now, the cost of intelligence and the cost of energy constrain a lot of things), and the price of luxury goods and a few inherently limited resources like land may rise even more dramatically," he added.

Representatives for Altman at OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Altman's post comes just weeks after a massive sell-off in AI-linked stocks in January.

The sell-off was triggered by the runaway success of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. DeepSeek's high-performing but cheaper models raised concerns that demand for AI hardware like Nvidia's chips may fall.

Meanwhile, tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta, are doubling down on the AI race. Executives from these companies said in recent earnings reports that they are ramping up their investments on AI.

The combined capital expenditures of the four companies are set to surpass $320 billion this year.

Last month, Altman was at the White House when President Donald Trump announced Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment project. Stargate is a joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and Emirati investor MGX.

"This means we can create AI and AGI in the United States of America," Altman said of Stargate during an interview on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" on January 21.

• A federal judge blocked Trump's attempt to dismantle the US Agency for International Development.
• The Friday ruling followed a lawsuit by government employee unions against USAID cuts.
• USAID spent $32.5 billion in 2024 on global humanitarian aid.

A federal judge has partially blocked the Trump administration's attempt to dismantle the US Agency for International Development.

Judge Carl Nichols said in a Friday order he would temporarily block the Trump administration from placing 2,200 USAID employees on paid leave until midnight on February 14.

"Many USAID personnel work in 'high-risk environments where access to security resources is critical.' No future lawsuit could undo the physical harm that might result if USAID employees are not informed of imminent security threats occurring in the countries to which they have relocated in the course of their service to the United States," Nichols wrote in his order, preventing the layoffs from taking place.

"The government argued at the TRO hearing that placing employees on paid administrative leave is a garden-variety personnel action unworthy of court intervention. But administrative leave in Syria is not the same as administrative leave in Bethesda: simply being paid cannot change that fact," the judge's order added.

The judge's order partially grants a temporary restraining order requested by two labor groups representing federal workers in a lawsuit against the Trump administration filed Thursday. In their initial request, the labor groups asked the judge to block the Trump administration from placing any additional USAID workers on leave or from firing any additional workers, court records showed.

They also asked the administration be blocked from "taking further actions to shut down USAID's operations in a manner not authorized by Congress until further order of this Court." Nichols' order on Friday did not grant the labor groups' request to block a funding freeze implemented by the Trump administration, allowing the freeze to go into effect.

Prior to the judge's order, many USAID workers were set to be placed on leave Friday just before midnight.

The judge's ruling comes one day after the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Foreign Service Association filed a lawsuit against the administration's cuts to USAID.

"These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled US national security interests," their lawyers wrote.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, named President Donald Trump, State Secretary Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the State Department, the Treasury Department, and USAID as defendants.

"Not a single one of defendants' actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization. And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency," the lawsuit argued.

The humanitarian aid agency has been under fire since Trump took office. Elon Musk said in an X post on Monday that he "spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper."

On Tuesday, USAID said nearly all staff would be placed on administrative leave starting on February 7 at midnight. The announcement came just a day after the agency shut down its headquarters on Monday and told staff to work remotely.

"With regards to the USAID stuff, I went over it in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down," Musk said of a conversation he had with President Donald Trump during an X Spaces conversation on Monday.

Established in 1961 by then-President John F. Kennedy, USAID oversees the US's aid programs worldwide.

The agency spent nearly $32.5 billion in fiscal year 2024, channeling aid to countries like Ukraine, Jordan, and Ethiopia. The US is the world's largest provider of humanitarian aid.

The turmoil surrounding USAID occurs amid a wider upending of the federal bureaucracy during Trump's second term, with the federal judiciary increasingly stepping in.

Last month, the Trump administration gave federal employees from January 28 to February 6 to accept a buyout offer and resign from their jobs, but a judge extended the deadline to Monday.

The Trump administration's freeze on federal grants and loans was announced on January 28 and rolled by within days, with a federal judge issuing a restraining order on January 31.

A federal judge also issued an injunction against Trump's executive orders on ending birthright citizenship, calling them "flatly unconstitutional."

A spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, said on Thursday that over 40,000 employees have accepted the offer. The federal government employs more than 2 million people.

• The chairwoman of the FEC said President Donald Trump tried to fire her.
• Ellen Weintraub has been serving as a commissioner on the FEC since 2002.
• Weintraub said the dismissal letter she got from from Trump isn't a "legal way" to replace her.

Ellen Weintraub, the chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission, said President Donald Trump is attempting to remove her from the agency.

"Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner & Chair of FEC," Weintraub wrote in an X post on Thursday evening, which came attached with a dismissal letter signed by Trump.

"There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn't it," Weintraub added.

According to Weintraub's post, Trump's letter was dated January 31. Weintraub has served as a commissioner since 2002. The FEC administers and oversees compliance with federal election laws.

Although Weintraub's term as commissioner expired in April 2007, she has continued to serve on the FEC and chaired it in 2003, 2013, and 2019. The chair position rotates yearly and Weintraub was elected as chair for the fourth time this year.

According to federal law, commissioners of the FEC are appointed to six-year terms. Commissioners can remain on the FEC past their term's expiration date until a replacement is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

"I've been lucky to serve the American people & stir up some good trouble along the way. That's not changing anytime soon," Weintraub wrote in her post on Thursday.

The FEC's press office declined to comment on Weintraub's post. Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Weintraub told The New York Times in an interview published Thursday that she was "not really surprised" by Trump attempt to dismiss of her.

"There have been dozens of complaints filed against the president," Weintraub told The Times.

"I have pointed that out. I've written about this. So I'm not really surprised that I am on their radar," she continued.

Back in 2020, Weintraub criticized Trump after he said that the expansion of mail-voting will lead to widespread voter fraud.

"Such falsehoods are not mere words. These falsehoods may well undermine the American people's faith in our democracy," Weintraub wrote in a 66-post thread on X in May 2020.

"True leaders speak truth," she added.

• Jamie Dimon said that while he "would never rule it out," running for president is tough.
• The JPMorgan CEO said in a podcast that being president would mean being away from his family.
• "Some people are prepared for that, I was unprepared for it at the time," Dimon said.

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said his family was one reason he did not run for president.

"I tell people, had I run and won, when I was walking into that White House, I'd be waving goodbye to my family for four years. They'd be saying, 'See ya, dad,'" Dimon told David Novak on the latest episode of the "How Leaders Lead" podcast, which aired on January 30. "I'm not sure my wife would have gone with me, there."

Dimon added that the presidency means "subjecting your family to some very tough stuff."

"Some people are prepared for that, I was unprepared for it at the time," Dimon said.

Dimon said that while he "would never rule it out," running for president would be difficult for him because of other reasons, too.

"I do think there are skills that people have in the business world that may translate to the political world, but I think it's a mistake to automatically think that's true," Dimon said, adding that he didn't think he had the necessary political skills to make the transition.

That's on top of the experience one should accrue from smaller political appointments before gunning for the presidency, Dimon told Novak.

"I literally think you should kind of have a warm-up before you go for president. A warm-up could be Congress, or Senate, or governor," Dimon said. "You have seen people learn those skills before you go for the big enchilada."

Running for president would also mean having to give up his job at JPMorgan, which he enjoys, Dimon said.

"I'm damn proud of it so — I think I add a lot here. I'd be giving that up for kind of a wild goose chase," Dimon said.

Dimon's age and health were also factors in his decision.

"I think it's hard. I'm 68 years old. As you know, I have had a health problem or two. So when you put it together, it just didn't seem like the right thing for me to do," Dimon said.

In 2014, JPMorgan said Dimon had been diagnosed with throat cancer, though it went into remission after treatment. In 2020, Dimon had another health scare — he was rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery.

Representatives for Dimon at JPMorgan did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

This isn't the first time Dimon has been asked about his political ambitions. The 68-year-old banker said at an investors meeting in May that his retirement timeline was "not five years anymore," and that a plan to name his successor was "well on its way."

Then, in October, Dimon told analysts in an earnings call that he had no plans to join President Donald Trump's second administration if he was offered a role.

"I think the chance of that is almost nil, and probably I'm not going to do it," Dimon said.

"I intend to be doing what I'm doing — I almost guarantee I'll be doing this — for a long period of time, or at least until the board kicks me out," he added.

• Erica Roach, the CFO of the US Office of Personnel Management, resigned this week.
• The OPM manages $1.1 trillion in assets for federal workers' benefits.
• Roach's departure is the latest in a string of changes in federal agencies.

Erica Roach, the chief financial officer of the US Office of Personnel Management, resigned this week.

Roach confirmed the news to Business Insider on Wednesday. She declined to comment further.

The Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, is the chief human resources agency for the federal government. The office manages $1.1 trillion in assets under the Earned Benefits Trust Funds, which funds finance retirement, health, and life insurance benefits for millions of federal workers.

Roach worked at the OPM for eight years, her LinkedIn shows. She served as the CFO for just under a year and a half.

The ABC News reporter Ben Siegel first reported Roach's resignation in an X post on Wednesday evening, citing unnamed sources who said she was pushed out.

OPM did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

Roach's departure comes as the federal workforce is undergoing a massive shakeup under President Donald Trump's second term in office.

Last month, the Trump administration gave federal employees between January 28 to February 6 to accept a buyout offer if they did not want to work for the administration.

Those who took the buyout will receive full pay and benefits through September. The offer was extended to all federal employees except those working in military, postal, immigration, and national security roles.

More than 20,000 workers have accepted the buyouts, a White House spokesperson told BI in a story published on February 4. A spokesperson for OPM said the agency is expecting a spike of resignations to come 24-48 hours before the deadline.

The federal government employs more than 2 million people.

Have a news tip or a story to share? Contact this reporter at [email protected] or via the encrypted-messaging app Signal @kelseyv.21.

• China retaliated with its own tariffs minutes after the US's tariffs went into effect on Tuesday.
• The quick but measured response suggests that China has been strategic.
• Tariffs on Mexico and Canada were delayed by a month after both countries struck a deal with Trump.

Beijing's announcement of retaliatory tariffs on US goods arrived on Tuesday. The news came fast, but with less punch than expected.

"China's tariffs are relatively measured and not symmetrical in scale, touching only an estimated $20 billion in US exports, compared with the more than $500 billion in Chinese exports that will be affected by US across-the-board tariffs," said Jeremy Chan, a consultant for Eurasia Group.

But analysts told Business Insider that the targeted and calibrated nature of the response doesn't mean Beijing is backing down.

"Clearly this is premeditated," Louise Loo, the lead economist for Greater China at Oxford Economics, told Business Insider.

The "carefully curated lists on specific goods simply imply, in our view, that China is prepared to retaliate as and when, rather than back down on aggressive tariffs from the US," she said.

A calculated and strategic move from Beijing

Trump is dealing with a China that's showing restraint. Beijing has been calculated, strategic, and measured in its response, economists and foreign policy analysts told BI.

"China normally waits until measures are implemented, not when they are announced, to retaliate," said Eurasia Group's Chan. "In this instance, Beijing announced its response within minutes of the 10% tariff hike going into effect, showing that it was prepared."

Trump kicked off his trade war with China back in 2018, imposing tariffs on imports from China, like steel and aluminum. That resulted in a series of tit-for-tat responses between the US and China.

Austin Strange, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's department of politics and public administration, told BI that China's quick reaction shouldn't come as a surprise. Leaders have "hindsight from dealing with highly unpredictable policies during Trump's first term," he said.

The specific categories on China's tariff list were no accident.

"The restrictions on China exports of key minerals — iridium, molybdenum, etc. — is meant to retard development of a few strategic industries in the US, including solar panels, sophisticated weapons, and batteries," said Thierry Wizman, a global foreign exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie Group.

China's measured response doesn't mean heavier hits won't come

China's response to Trump's opening move was relatively measured, the analysts who spoke to BI agreed.

Chris Fasciano, the chief market strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network, said China's response seemed "designed to send a message" while not causing "too much damage."

"Through this lens their tariff response seems to be moderate in nature compared to the blanket 10% tariffs implemented by the Trump administration," Fasciano said.

China's tariffs included agricultural machinery, but not agricultural products.

In 2018, China slapped 25% tariffs on US soybeans, beef, pork, wheat, corn, and sorghum imports to retaliate against Trump's tariffs. China imported around $34 billion worth of US agriculture goods in fiscal year 2023.

Ian Ja Chong, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, told BI that China's "more calibrated" opening move leaves room for "heavier measures later on."

"It suggests that Beijing may be ready to negotiate. Whether what each side offers the other is good enough is another matter altogether," Chong said.

These Trump-term tariffs are also hitting the Chinese economy in the midst of a prolonged downturn, which leaves Beijing with less wiggle room for retaliation.

To be sure, US tariffs on China did not go away when Trump completed his first term in 2021.

Then-President Joe Biden maintained Trump's tariffs and even expanded them. In May, Biden announced tariffs on $18 billion of Chinese goods. Besides targeting steel, aluminum, and medical products, Biden also raised tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from 25% to 100%.

Against the combative backdrop of strategic geopolitical rivalry, Beijing has to show that it, too, can play the game.

"China has no choice but to be aggressive. The measures can always be reversed anyway, so it makes sense to be aggressive," Macquarie's Wizman said.

• The US Postal Service said it will stop accepting parcels from China and Hong Kong immediately.
• Only parcels are affected as the temporary restriction doesn't apply to letters and flat mail.
• A logistics expert predicted "chaos" in the short term with disruption and cancellations.

The US Postal Service said it is temporarily suspending inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong, in a potential blow to Chinese e-commerce retailers.

In a statement on its website Tuesday evening, the USPS said the suspension would take effect immediately and be in place "until further notice." It does not apply to letters and flat mail.

The suspension comes after President Donald Trump imposed a new 10% tariff on all goods imported from China and ended the de minimis exemption that allowed packages worth less than $800, bound for individual consumers, to avoid tariffs.

Louise Loo, the lead economist for Greater China at Oxford Economics, wrote in a note on Tuesday that the exemption had been "particularly relevant" for Chinese e-commerce retailers — such as Shein and Temu — and that China and Hong Kong accounted for 67% of packages entering the US under the exemption between 2018 and 2021.

PDD, Temu's parent company, was down 6% in premarket trading on the Nasdaq after the USPS announcement.

There were more than 1.36 billion de minimis shipments into the US in the 2024 fiscal year according to the US Customs and Border Protection.

The agency said in a January statement that shipments into the US under the exemption had risen by more than 600% over the past decade.

"This exponential increase has created challenges for CBP's effective enforcement of US trade laws, health and safety requirements, intellectual property rights, and consumer protection rules," the statement added.

'The next couple of days are going to be chaotic'

US consumers can expect chaos with their packages, a trade specialist told Business Insider.

"There'll be disruption, there'll be cancellations, the next couple of days are going to be chaotic," said Ram Ben Tzion, the CEO of Ultra Information Solutions.

Chinese exporters could choose to use companies such as DHL, UPS, and FedEx — but this demand surge could cause freight costs to increase, said Ben Tzion. His company is behind Publican, a digital vetting platform for global trade.

Private freight companies may also start evaluating how they plan to handle inbound packages from China and Hong Kong.

"The suspension is actually sending a very strong message to FedEx, to UPS, to DHL that they also need to consider if they continue taking packages from China," Ben Tzion said.

He advised consumers to wait before carting out any products that are shipped out of China or Hong Kong.

"If you continue buying on Shein, Temu, Alibaba, or Amazon, I strongly suggest that you wait for the next week to see how it plays out, because it's going to be a mess," said Ben Tzion.

USPS declined to elaborate on its statement when contacted by BI.

• President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order to start a US sovereign wealth fund.
• He said that the fund could be used to buy TikTok, which is facing a looming ban in the US.
• He has floated numerous other ways to save the app, like having Elon Musk or Larry Ellison buy it.

President Donald Trump floated the idea of buying TikTok with an American sovereign wealth fund, which he signed an executive order on Monday to create.

"So other countries have sovereign wealth funds, and they're much smaller countries, and they're not the United States. We have tremendous potential in this country," Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.

Sovereign wealth funds pool money that comes from the government, often a surplus from economic activities like producing oil. Some funds invest in stocks and bonds, while others invest directly, buying real estate, companies, and other assets. Norway has the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund, with $1.7 trillion in assets.

"And as an example, TikTok, we're going to be doing something, perhaps, with TikTok, and perhaps not," he said. "If we make the right deal, we'll do it; otherwise, we won't."

"But I have the right to do that and we might put that in the sovereign wealth fund, whatever we make, or if we do a partnership with very wealthy people," Trump added.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the fund would be set up within the next 12 months.

Time's running short for TikTok

TikTok has until April to devise a game plan as it fights against the Supreme Court's divest-or-ban law. It went dark for its 170 million US users on January 18, a day before its original deadline, but was restored hours later.

Shortly after his inauguration on January 20, Trump signed an executive order to delay the ban by 75 days. He then suggested that the US should own half of TikTok.

"I think we would have a joint venture with the people from TikTok. We'll see what happens," Trump said after taking office.

A day later, he said he would be on board with Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison buying TikTok.

Neither businessman has publicly expressed interest in buying the app. But Musk said in an X post on January 19, the day of the intended ban, that he has been against the ban "for a long time" because it "goes against freedom of speech."

Representatives for Trump and TikTok did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• Three federal employee unions filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department on Monday.
• The unions accused Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, of sharing sensitive data with Elon Musk's DOGE.
• The White House said Musk had "abided by all applicable federal laws."

Three federal employee unions have accused the Treasury Department of giving Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency unlawful access to sensitive information.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, lawyers acting for the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees, and the Service Employees International Union said Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, violated federal law when he shared the department's data with DOGE.

The three union groups are represented by lawyers from the Public Citizen Litigation Group and the State Democracy Defenders Fund.

"Federal laws protect sensitive personal and financial information from improper disclosure and misuse, including by barring disclosure to individuals who lack a lawful and legitimate need for it," the lawyers wrote. "In his first week as Treasury Secretary, defendant Bessent violated these restrictions."

The lawsuit said Musk and DOGE staffers had sought access to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service's records "for some time" but had been "rebuffed by the employee then in charge of the Bureau." The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a department within the Treasury that oversees all federal payments and collections.

Bessent then put that employee on leave and gave DOGE's staffers "full access" to the Bureau's data and computers, the lawsuit said.

"The scale of the intrusion into individuals' privacy is massive and unprecedented," the lawsuit added.

"People who must share information with the federal government should not be forced to share information with Elon Musk or his 'DOGE.' And federal law says they do not have to," the lawsuit said.

Lawyers from the Public Citizen Litigation Group and State Democracy Defenders Fund didn't respond to requests for comment.

On Monday, President Donald Trump told reporters that Musk was given access to Treasury data so that he could identify wasteful government spending.

"He's got access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good, if we agree with him. And it's only if we agree with him," Trump said while signing executive orders in the Oval Office.

"Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval, and we will give him the approval where appropriate," Trump added.

A White House spokesperson told Business Insider on Monday that Musk was a "special government employee" and wouldn't be paid for his services. According to federal law, special government employees cannot work for more than 130 days in a 365-day period.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on the same day that Musk had "abided by all applicable federal laws."

The Treasury and Musk didn't respond to requests for comment from BI.

Shortly after winning the November election, Trump announced that Musk and the biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy would co-lead DOGE. Trump said in his announcement that the commission would cut wasteful federal spending and slash excess regulations.

Last month, Ramaswamy said he was stepping away from DOGE, leaving Musk as its sole leader.

In October, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO outlined his goals for DOGE. At a Trump campaign event, he said the committee would save the government at least $2 trillion, though he didn't specify what cuts he would make to achieve that target.

Achieving Musk's $2 trillion target would involve cutting government spending by nearly a third. The federal government spent $6.75 trillion in the 2024 fiscal year.

In January, Musk appeared to walk back his estimate, saying that reducing $2 trillion in spending would be a "best-case outcome" for DOGE. The billionaire said in an interview with the political strategist Mark Penn that the commission had a "good shot" at saving $1 trillion.

"If we can drop the budget deficit from $2 trillion to $1 trillion and free up the economy to have additional growth such that the output of goods and services keeps pace with the increase in the money supply, then there will be no inflation," Musk told Penn. "So that, I think, would be an epic outcome."