WASHINGTON - A day after Elon Musk escalated his feud with Donald Trump and announced the formation of a new US political party, the president’s Treasury secretary said Mr Musk should stick to running his companies.

And investment firm Azoria Partners, which had planned to launch a fund tied to Mr Musk’s automaker Tesla, said it was delaying the venture because the party’s creation posed “a conflict with his full-time responsibilities as CEO”.

Mr Musk said on July 5

he was establishing the “America Party”

Speaking on CNN on July 6, Treasury chief Scott Bessent said the boards of directors at Mr Musk’s companies – Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX – likely would prefer him to stay out of politics.

“I imagine that those boards of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities,” Mr Bessent said.

Mr Musk, who served as a top adviser to the White House on trimming the size of government during the first few months of Mr Trump’s presidency, said his new party would in 2026’s midterm elections look to unseat Republicans in Congress who backed the “big, beautiful Bill”.

The White House did not directly address the threat made by Mr Musk but said the Bill’s passage showed that the Republican Party is in strong shape.

“As the leader of the Republican Party, President Trump has unified and grown the party in a way we’ve never seen,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said.

Mr Musk spent millions of dollars underwriting Mr Trump’s re-election effort and for a time, regul...