By Anita Hamilton

At a two-hour cabinet meeting held Wednesday to discuss President Donald Trump's accomplishments during his first 100 days in office, the president began by touting the $8 trillion of investment commitments that he says the administration has secured in the past two months from companies ranging from chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor to consumer tech firms such as Samsung.

Since Trump took office, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed out, energy costs have plummeted, foods costs are down, and the country is "on the verge of becoming an AI superpower."

But Trump's early days have also been marked by stock market turbulence and an escalating trade war that has weighed on economic growth. The S&P 500 has fallen 7.3% and the Dow is down 6.8% since Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. On Wednesday, Trump blamed a weak first quarter GDP report on the Biden administration.

Asked by reporters about the stock market drop during his second term, Trump said, "I'm not taking credit or discredit for the stock market. I'm just saying we inherited a mess."

After Trump opened the floor to each of his cabinet members to talk about their departmental successes, a handful thanked his efficiency advisor and Tesla CEO Elon Musk for helping them to cut costs.

Seated at one end of the table in the White House cabinet room wearing two hats at the same time, Musk said his efficiency team had found $160 billion in savings, a number that has been disputed and falls far short of his earlier prediction that he would find up to $2 trillion of savings.

Musk received a round of applause from cabinet members, several of whom personally thanked him for helping them to cut costs from their agencies. Following last week's disappointing earnings report from Tesla, Musk said he would scale back on his role in the administration. At Wednesday's cabinet meeting, Trump said Musk was invited to stay as long as he wanted.

"Thanks to Elon we have saved $67 billion without compromising any of our critical programs," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said. Environmental Protection Agency Director Lee Zeldin claimed savings of $22 billion, while Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins said Musk's efforts had led to $11.6 billion in contract cuts. The Agriculture Department and Small Business Administration heads claimed savings of $6 billion and $3 billion, respectively.

"Some of these things are so ridiculous you can't believe it," Musk said after Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer thanked Musk for helping her find cuts, which she didn't put a dollar value on. "It sounds like a comedy sketch," Musk added.

Several cabinet members also spoke about the importance of the U.S. moving ahead of China in artificial intelligence and what's needed to make that happen as tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and OpenAI build out power-hungry AI data centers. "We need a lot more energy," said Energy Secretary Chris Wright. He added, "It is not acceptable for the United States to not be a leader in AI." Interior Secretary Doug Burgum added, "We have a charge to win the AI race."

They also discussed cuts to the federal workforce, which Musk and his team have spearheaded. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said she had reduced her department's head count by 50%, adding, "I don't think I've ever worked so hard to fire myself." Labor's Chavez-DeRemer said 3,000 of 14,000 workers had accepted the administration's deferred resignation offer.

Trump concluded by saying, "I really do believe that the next 100 days are going to be even better than this."

Write to Anita Hamilton at anita.hamilton@barrons.com

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April 30, 2025 14:42 ET (18:42 GMT)

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