Agencies PALM BEACH (Florida)

President-elect Donald Trump has sided with Elon Musk, a key supporter and billionaire tech CEO, in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the programme for foreign tech workers – a stand opposed by some of his supporters.

Trump’s remarks followed a series of social media posts from Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who vowed late Friday to go to “war” to defend the visa programme for foreign tech workers.

“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” he was quoted as saying. The altercation was set off earlier this week by far-right activists who criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian American venture capitalist, to be an advisor on artificial intelligence, saying he would have influence on the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

The argument heated up  after Vivek Ramaswamy Ramaswamy, tapped by Trump along with Musk to slash government spending, wrote on X, "Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence," as he argued that foreign workers improve the US economy.

"A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian [the top student in a class], will not produce the best engineers," he wrote.