Billionaire Elon Musk ripped White House trade adviser Peter Navarro Tuesday as “truly a moron,” deepening a rift Navarro has denied as Musk has suggested some opposition to President Donald Trump’s new tariffs.
Elon Musk listens to President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Monday, March 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Key Takeaways
- Musk’s latest attack on Navarro was in response to Navarro’s comments Monday on CNBC suggesting Musk may be opposed to Trump’s sweeping new tariff package because Musk is “a car assembler” and “not a car manufacturer,” since his Tesla company uses imported parts in its vehicles.
- Navarro said “the difference in our thinking and Elon’s on this” is that the White House sees the tariffs as a way to return manufacturing jobs to the U.S. while Musk “is a car person” who “wants the cheap foreign parts.”
- Musk said the statement “is demonstrably false,” calling Navarro “a moron” and pointing to a Kelly Blue Book study that shows Tesla produces the top four cars mostly made in the U.S.
- In a subsequent post, Musk referred to Navarro as “Peter Retarrdo.”
- Musk’s latest rebuke of Navarro comes after the Tesla CEO criticized Navarro for defending the formula the Trump administration used to calculate the tariffs, which has been widely panned as overly simplistic and based predominantly on trade imbalance, rather than the individual tariff rates and trade barriers other countries impose on U.S. imports.
- Musk responded to a video on Saturday of Navarro explaining the formula by writing in a since-deleted X post the trade adviser’s “PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,” and agreeing with a quote by economist Thomas Sowell, who said “in every disaster throughout American history, there always seems to be a man from Harvard in the middle of it.”
Crucial Quote
“Whatever. We are the most transparent administration in history, expressing our disagreements in public,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNBC about Musk’s criticism of Navarro.
Contra
Navarro has denied a feud with Musk, telling CNBC “everything’s good with Elon.” Navarro told Fox on Sunday “it’s fine, there’s no rift here,” but suggested Musk lacks credibility when it comes to shaping trade policy. “Elon, when in his DOGE lane, is great,” Navarro said, alleging Musk is “simply protecting his own interest” regarding tariffs.
Key Background
The auto industry is among the hardest hit by Trump’s tariffs, with a 25% tariff on imported cars and trucks taking effect last week. Musk’s own net worth has been reduced by billions in the wake of Trump’s announcement Thursday and Tesla’s stock also declined sharply, dropping 14% between Wednesday evening and Friday afternoon, though they’ve somewhat rebounded after the initial market shock, for a total decline of 5% over the past five days.
Though Musk hasn’t directly weighed in on Trump’s tariffs, his X posts indicate some discontent with the president whose policies Musk has staunchly defended throughout his first months in office. On Monday, Musk shared a video of economist Milton Friedman promoting free trade and the benefits of imported goods. Musk is among several of Trump’s billionaire backers who have broken with the president over his trade policies. JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon predicted a likely increase in inflation and greater chances of a recession as a result, while Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman explicitly called for a pause in the tariffs set to take effect Wednesday.
