CNN-Over the past three years, Elon Musk has met dozens of times with presidents, prime ministers, lawmakers, government officials and political candidates from around the world.
Some of these meetings have been highly publicized, like his visit to Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following criticism over an antisemitic post Musk boosted on X. Other meetings, such as a recent conversation with Argentine President Javier Milei, the world only glimpses through the billionaire’s social media posts.
Known topics of conversation ranged from business opportunities for Musk’s companies to elections and policy issues such as trade, energy, education and population management, according to a CNN review of Musk’s meetings, calls and conversations with political figures around the world since August 2021. Although some of his relationships with those leaders go back even further, in that time, Musk has gone from being one of the world’s wealthiest and most influential businessmen to an increasingly powerful player in global affairs.
Taken together, the meetings show how Musk has been courted not only for his companies and deep pocketbook but also for his ability to impact the course of wars through his Starlink satellite service; his opinion on artificial intelligence, the next major wave of technology development; and his role in swaying public opinion through his platform, X.
On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian government officials, including about Starlink, since late 2022. CNN has not independently confirmed the conversations, so they are not included in our analysis. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN the report was “absolutely false.” He said Musk and Putin have only ever spoken once, adding that the conversation was over the phone and took place before 2022. Musk’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
For Musk, conversations with world leaders are a virtuous cycle: The six prominent companies he owns or runs give him an in with those figures, whose support often fuels their growth. In turn, those leaders’ interest in attracting Musk’s business provides an opportunity for him to advise on some of his other pet interests, such as global birth rates and immigration.
At the same time, the South Africa-born billionaire has become a political power player in his adopted home, the United States. He held livestream campaign events on X for presidential hopefuls Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who both later dropped out of the race, as well as former President Donald Trump. Musk has since thrown his weight — and tens of millions of dollars — behind Trump, attending and hosting rallies on his behalf and criticizing (and, in some cases, spreading false information about) his competitor, Vice President Kamala Harris, on X.
“He’s trying to be a global influencer, and I guess he’s decided he needs to do more than use X,” said James Lewis, director of the strategic technologies program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Elon Musk has met with politicans from at least 13 different countries
Since August 2021, Musk has met or spoken with influential political figures from every populated continent except for Africa and Australia.
Of course, it’s not unusual for corporate leaders to sometimes meet with government officials, and Musk is not the only big business name to publicly weigh in on the upcoming US presidential election.
But the extent of Musk’s public political involvement is unusual for the chief executive of a public company like Tesla — as well as the owner of several powerful private firms, executive leadership experts told CNN.
“What’s different about it is that there’s a political aspect, and most CEOs steer clear of politics,” Lewis said. “They’re going to the head of another state, basically, to make the commercial conditions better for their product, maybe to lobby on a certain point, but they don’t usually do politics,” he said, adding that with Musk, “there’s a political tone to everything he does.”
At least some of Musk’s political relationships appear to have benefited his companies. In May 2022, Musk met with the then-President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, to mark the launch of Starlink in the country, a major new market for the satellite business. In February 2023, he held calls with then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about a new Tesla manufacturing plant in the state of Nuevo Leon, for which the company later received $153 million worth of incentives from the state. In May 2023, he held meetings with Chinese government officials shortly after Tesla announced plans for a new battery plant in Shanghai; Musk made a surprise return to China this April for a visit with Premier Li Qiang, weeks before the company broke ground on the facility.
Even more world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have met with Musk to ask Tesla to invest in their countries.
CNN’s analysis includes only meetings for which at least some information is publicly available. It’s possible the billionaire has calls or meetings with leaders that he does not post about.
