Elon Musk may be Donald Trump’s favorite tech billionaire.
The head of Tesla and SpaceX is slated to attend yet another meeting with the president on Wednesday, a White House official told CNN, this time to discuss the need to boost infrastructure spending.
Musk, who is worth a reported $13 billion, has been the force behind “Hyperloop,” a proposed high speed rail that would transport people on land through tube-like vacuums at speeds up to 760 mph.
Trump pledged during the 2016 campaign to push for a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan to revitalize American airports, roads and rail systems. Trump reiterated the plan earlier this month during his first joint address to Congress.
“To launch our national rebuilding, I will be asking Congress to approve legislation that produces a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure of the United States — financed through both public and private capital — creating millions of new jobs,” Trump said. “This effort will be guided by two core principles: Buy American and hire American.”
Wednesday’s meeting will be the third time Musk has publicly met with Trump as president.
Musk, who is a member of both Trump’s economic advisory council and manufacturing council, last met with Trump in February. The tech billionaire took public flack for meeting with Trump amid the president’s push to curb the flow of refugees coming into the United States, but Musk defended the decision by arguing he is “doing good” by meeting with Trump.
“At my request, the agenda for yesterday’s White House meeting went from not mentioning the travel ban to having it be first and foremost,” Musk said at the time, referring to Trump’s travel ban against seven Muslim-majority nations. “There has already been and there will be progress on this matter.”
Musk also met with Trump in January, just days after he was inaugurated.
The president used that meeting to warn the CEOs in attendance against outsourcing American jobs. He also discussed the “substantial border tax” he plans to implement.
Musk also met with then President-elect Trump in New York in January, and Vice President Mike Pence spoke with Musk on the phone on February 8.
Wednesday’s meeting will include Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Also attending the meeting will be: Richard LeFrak, the CEO of LeFrak; Steve Roth, the CEO of Vornado Realty Trust; Josh Harris, the co-Founder of Apollo Global Management; Bill Ford, the CEO of General Atlantic; Lynn Scarlett, the Managing Director of the Nature Conservancy and Tyler Duvall, a partner at McKinsey & Company.
