BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday said US tech billionaire Elon Musk is threatening European democracy with his attacks on political leaders and support for the far right.
“He supports the far right across Europe — in the UK, Germany and many other countries. This is something that is completely unacceptable, that endangers the democratic development of Europe,” Scholz said.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders, including Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Musk, who used his influence and vast wealth to help propel Donald Trump to victory in the White House race, has also been vocal in his support for Germany’s far-right AfD before snap elections in Germany on February 23.
Musk earlier this month hosted Alice Weidel, the AfD’s candidate to be the German chancellor, for a wide-ranging livestream on his X social media platform.
He also boosted the livestream of an AfD congress by sharing it on his own X account, helping it gain a worldwide audience.
Dozens of EU lawmakers this week expressed “deep concern” over Musk’s interference in European politics in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Scholz on Friday said he was not criticizing the fact that “a billionaire from another country is speaking his mind in a global world.”
But “his partisanship for the extreme right, whether out of business interests or for reasons that have something to do with his own political stance, that is unacceptable,” Scholz said.
Musk backing for European far right ‘endangers democracy’: Scholz
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Musk backing for European far right ‘endangers democracy’: Scholz
- The world’s richest man has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders
- Musk used his influence and vast wealth to help propel Donald Trump to victory in the White House race
Trump calls for one year cap on credit card interest rates at 10 percent
- Trump says Americans have been ‘ripped off’ by credit card companies
- Lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about rates
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday he was calling for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10 percent starting on January 20 but he did not provide details on how his plan will come to fruition or how he planned to make companies comply.
Trump also made the pledge during the campaign for the 2024 election that he won but analysts dismissed it at the time saying that such a step required congressional approval.
Lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican Parties have raised concerns about high rates and have called for those to be addressed. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
There have been some legislative efforts in Congress to pursue such a proposal but they are yet to become law and in his post Trump did not offer explicit support to any specific bill.
Opposition lawmakers have criticized Trump, a Republican, for not having delivered on his campaign pledge.
“Effective January 20, 2026, I, as President of the United States, am calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10 percent,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without providing more details.
“Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off’ by Credit Card Companies,” Trump added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on details of the call from Trump, but said on social media without elaborating that the president was capping the rates.
Some major US banks and credit card issuers like American Express, Capital One Financial Corp, JPMorgan , Citigroup and Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US Senator Bernie Sanders, a fierce Trump critic, and Senator Josh Hawley, who belongs to Trump’s Republican Party, have previously introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent for five years. This bill explicitly directs credit card companies to limit rates as part of broader consumer relief legislation.
Democratic US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna have also introduced a House of Representatives bill to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent, reflecting cross-aisle interest in addressing high rates.
Billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump in the last elections, said the US president’s call was a “mistake.”
“This is a mistake,” Ackman wrote on X.
“Without being able to charge rates adequate enough to cover losses and earn an adequate return on equity, credit card lenders will cancel cards for millions of consumers who will have to turn to loan sharks for credit at rates higher than and on terms inferior to what they previously paid.”
Last year, the Trump administration moved to scrap a credit card late fee rule from the era of former President Joe Biden.
The Trump administration had asked a federal court to throw out a regulation capping credit card late fees at $8, saying it agreed with business and banking groups that alleged the rule was illegal. A federal judge subsequently threw out the rule.
