Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free

Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world

Elon Musk has objected to a lack of reciprocity in the US-China tech relationship, a rare criticism from the billionaire on issues sensitive to Beijing after US president-elect Donald Trump prepared to offer a reprieve to TikTok on a ban in the US.

Musk, who has long sought to maintain close ties with Communist party officials in China, a core market and production centre for his electric car company Tesla, has for years been careful in his statements about Beijing.

But he said on Sunday that “something needs to change” after Trump said he would “most likely” extend a deadline for Chinese tech group ByteDance to divest from TikTok, which faced a ban under a US law that briefly forced it offline.

Musk said that while he opposed banning the short-form video app on free-speech grounds, “the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced”.

“Something needs to change,” he said in a post on X.

Asked about Musk’s comments, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday that Beijing welcomed any company that abided by its laws and Chinese groups abroad were obliged to follow local rules.

Responding to Trump’s proposal to push TikTok, which began restoring service in the US on Sunday, into a joint venture, Mao said Chinese groups should “decide independently” on operations and deals.

Musk’s criticism was mild compared with some of his fierce attacks on western politicians and recent intrusions into the domestic politics of countries such as Germany, the UK and Italy.

But it highlighted the Tesla chief’s potential conflicts of interest between protecting his business interests in China and serving as a confidant to the incoming president and a government efficiency tsar.

Tesla earned almost a quarter of its sales in the third quarter from China and exported even more vehicles from its Shanghai plant to third countries.

Some analysts believe Beijing is pinning its hopes on Musk as a potential intermediary with Trump, who has vowed to increase tariffs on imports from China. Chinese officials had previously discussed using Musk as a broker to resolve TikTok’s fate in the US.

Musk on Sunday also met Chinese vice-president Han Zheng, who will represent President Xi Jinping at Trump’s inauguration. The presence of a Chinese official as senior as Han is unprecedented at US presidential inaugurations, where Beijing is normally represented by its ambassador in Washington. 

“Han met . . . Elon Musk, and welcomed US companies including Tesla to seize opportunities and share the fruits of China’s development,” China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Han also met business leaders from the US-China Business Council and the US Chamber of Commerce on Sunday, as well as Trump’s incoming vice-president JD Vance.

Han and Vance discussed the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, which successive US administrations have pushed Beijing to crack down on, as well as regional stability and balancing trade, the Trump-Vance transition team said in a statement. 

US business leaders in the past have sought to play a moderating influence in often-volatile Sino-US relations, a role Beijing seems eager to encourage ahead of the second Trump administration.

Han described US business as a “backbone” of relations between the countries, and urged businesses to “play an active role as a bridge” in US-China relations, Xinhua said. 

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to kick off a slew of executive actions related to immigration after his inauguration ceremony, beginning as soon as Monday.

Since the early days of the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has vowed to begin his second term with both new and old efforts to curb legal migration and deport those who are in the U.S. without legal status.

Last night during a rally in Washington D.C., Trump said he plans to sign executive orders quickly and launch “the most aggressive, sweeping effort to restore our borders the world has ever seen.”

“Very soon, we will begin the largest deportation operation in American history,” he added.

Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan also said large-scale raids to deport and detain those without legal status are set to begin as soon as Tuesday, focusing on people considered a security or safety threat.

“While we hope for the best, we take Trump at his word. We are prepared to fight back against any cruel or violent attacks on immigrant communities in the U.S. or those fleeing to this country in search of safety and refuge,” said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an advocacy organization.

The U.S. had seen an increase in border crossings under the Biden administration, at times reaching all-time highs. But Customs and Border Protection’s recent numbers have shown a sharp decrease in unauthorized apprehensions in the past six months.

Trump campaigned on border security promises, and he and his allies argue that his electoral win is an endorsement of his upcoming efforts on the issue. Republicans criticized Biden’s immigration policies, and lawmakers voted to impeach Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Still, the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds that Americans are evenly split on whether to mass deport people who are in the U.S. without legal status — though divisions fall along party lines.

With Republican control of the White House, Senate and House, Trump’s immigration policies are also a key priority to push through Congress.

Here are some of his promises:

Declare a national emergency, which would unlock federal funding and other authorities to help him carry out plans to secure the border

These efforts may take time

Although Trump has reiterated these promises for over a year, they may take weeks or months to implement. Several actions will likely be the subject of legal challenges or need Congress to mobilize new funding that Trump currently does not have.

“We get into the big question marks. He’s talked about using, expanding, detention facilities. That will almost certainly happen,” Andrew Selee, president of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said in an interview with NPR’s Morning Edition.

“But whether he’ll be able to use military bases or not, or other federal facilities — and whether he will try and use the military itself, and that would require going back to the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798, and that will almost certainly be litigated in the courts.”

In fact, even quickly scaling operations might be difficult for the new administration. An NPR investigation last year found that U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for removals, struggled to scale up to Trump’s immediate demands during his first term, which included attempts to increase deportations.

Congress must also provide the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies with the funding to execute the policies.

In their final budget request, the Biden administration asked for $19 billion to fund additional personnel, facilities, repatriation capabilities, and other enforcement resources along the southwest border.

Lawmakers are expected to take up border security funding as a part of a bigger budget-related measure later this year.