Elon Musk has 'shouting match' with Donald Trump's tariff guru in major rift

got into a heated argument with 's tariff guru in a row about the US tax collecting agency, insiders have claimed. Musk, who has been spearheading efforts to slash federal spending as a senior advisor to Trump, got in a shouting match with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a dispute about the leadership of the IRS, according to two witnesses and three sources briefed on the matter who spoke to .

According to the outlet, both men were "in each other's face" during the war of words. One of the witnesses said: "They were not physical in the Oval, but the president saw it, and then they carried it down the hall, and that's when they did it again."

Another said the bust-up was "quite a scene. "It was loud, and I mean, loud," they added.

Tensions are said to have existed between the pair since Musk reportedly lobbied the President to install his favoured candidate, Gary Shapley, as acting commissioner of the IRS. This prompted Bessent to complain to the President, as per which reported that he wasn't consulted.

Trump subsequently agreed to replace Shapley with Michael Faulkender, one of Bessent's deputies at The Treasury and his favoured pick for the role, according to reports.

The New York Times first reported on Friday that Musk and Bessent had had a disagreement over the IRS's leadership, with Axios subsequently reporting further details.

One of the sources said last Thursday: "It was two billionaire, middle-aged men thinking it was WWE in the hall of the West Wing."

Though Bessent isn't in fact a billionaire, he is extremely wealthy, with assets worth at least $521million (£391.7million) according to his personal financial disclosure with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in 2024.

Bessent is said to have confronted Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX owner Musk at a meeting at the White House and according to a source, "the F bombs started to fly."

The Treasury Secretary, who helped orchestrate a wave of sweeping tariffs against global partners which has since been paused, reportedly criticised Musk for overpromising and under-delivering budget cuts in his role at the Department of Government Effiency (DOGE).

The US federal government initiative was established by Trump to identify massive reductions to federal spending.

Musk is said to have retorted that Bessent is "Soros agent", a reference to George Soros, a billionare entrepreneur who has donated millions of dollars to liberal causes, and is characterised as a bogeyman in conservative circles, as per .

He also reportedly accused Bessent of having run "a failed hedge fund."

The argument was so heated that an aide stepped in between the two political heavyweights to separate them, according to Axios.

At one point, Bessent shouted F**k you," to which Musk replied, "Say it louder," two sources who overheard the argument claimed.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about the reports and referred journalists to her previous comment to The New York Times, saying that it is "no secret President Trump has put together a team of people who are incredibly passionate about the issues impacting our country".

The statement said: "Disagreements are a normal part of any healthy policy process. And ultimately, everyone knows they serve at the pleasure of President Trump."

Axios approached representatives for both Musk and Bessent, who declined to comment.

Musk has announced that he will be , to give him more time to focus on his giant electric car firm .

He is currently wrestling with a slump in the car marker's sales, which saw quarterly profits drop by 71% to £308million. This downturn is partially attributed to the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.