Elon Musk calls President Donald Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro a “stupid” for his comments about electric vehicle company Tesla.
Musk, who is also a member of the Trump administration, said Navarro was “more stupid than a brick bag” in a post on social media platform X.
It corresponded to an interview given by Navarro, who criticized Musk. “[He’s] It’s not an automaker. He is often a car gatherer,” Navarro said.
Navarro was interviewed about Trump’s sweeping tariff policies and said he wanted to see the parts that were made in the US instead.
Musk, who suggested opposition to the White House trade policy, said Navarro’s claims about Tesla were “clearly false.”
Spatt was the most public indication of discrepancy between Trump’s trade team and Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with reducing federal government size and spending.
Later on Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt was asked about the line between Musk and Navarro. “These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and tariffs,” she told reporters.
“The boys will be boys. We will continue their public sparring,” Levitt said.
Trump justified his global tariff wave, saying he wanted to revive manufacturing in the United States. This is the argument Navarro made when he appeared on CNBC on Monday.
“If you look at our automotive industry, we are now a German assembly line for engines and transmissions,” he said.
“We’re going to get to the place where America makes things again. Real wages will rise, profits will rise,” Navarro added.
In response to comments Tuesday, Musk posted a link to a 2023 article by car rating company Kelley Blue Book, citing a Cars.com survey that says Tesla vehicles have the most parts in the United States.
“By any definition, Tesla is America’s most vertically integrated car manufacturer and has the highest percentage of content in the US,” Musk wrote in a follow-up post.
Technology industry analyst Dan Ives said the company is less subject to tariffs than other US automakers such as GM, Ford and Stellantis.
However, he also claimed that the company sourced most of its parts from outside the US, particularly China.
“The current form of tariffs disrupt the global footprint that has been a clear advantage over the years between us, Tesla, the overall supply chain, and competitors like BYD,” he said.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, dean and professor at Yale School of Management, who held a gathering of business executives in Washington last month, said Musk is reluctant to say publicly about Trump’s trade policy, although he has made it clear what many American CEOs think.
“79% of them said they were embarrassed in front of their international partners, while 89% said they were unnecessary taking us to a recession and false economic policy,” Sonnenfeld told the BBC, referring to the investigation at an event he hosted.
Even in front of the queue with Navarro, Musk was suggesting dissatisfaction with the tariff policy.
On Monday, he posted a video of economist Milton Friedman, a well-known opposition to tariffs, where he praises the value of the free market.
Trump’s tariffs have fallen worldwide as investors calculate companies will make less profits.
Musk said in a March 27 X post that even his company cannot escape the destruction of tariffs.
Billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman, another Trump supporter, called for a suspension of tariffs to prey on what he called “a major global economic turmoil.”
In a post on X, he said the current plan would “do unnecessary harm.”
Navarro was considered an Ultra Trump loyalist and was jailed for ignoring a House Committee subpoena that investigated efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
He is considered to be one of the leading architects of Trump’s tariff policy.
