Elon Musk considers ending his tortured dance with Donald Trump

SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk has vowed to leave President Trump’s advisory councils if the president pulls America out of the landmark Paris climate accord. To many of Musk’s fans, it’s about time. “Don’t know which way Paris will go, but I’ve done all I can” to convince Trump to stick with US commitments made under his predecessor, Barack Obama, Musk wrote on Wednesday in a post on Twitter.

Asked what he’ll do if Trump decides to leave, the chief executive said he “will have no choice but to depart councils”. America’s clean-energy icon angered many of his supporters earlier this year when he started meeting with Trump and joined his councils on business and manufacturing. Billboards sprang up in California urging Musk to “Dump Trump”.

Some customers even cancelled their $1,000 reservations for Tesla’s upcoming Model 3 electric car and posted their refunds on Twitter. Musk, 45, continued to advise Trump even as Uber Technologies Inc CEO Travis Kalanick succumbed to pressure to step down from similar White House roles. Musk insisted that the advisory councils were his chance to ensure the Republican president was hearing from people who take the threat climate change seriously.

Now, as Trump nears a final decision on the Paris climate agreement, and appears to be leaning toward the exit, Musk seems to have reached the end of his patience. The accord was decades in the making, involving more than 200 nations that represent almost the entirety of humanity. The only nations that haven’t signed on are Nicaragua and Syria.