As Tesla Stocks have plummeted for the fourth consecutive day, with CEO Elon Musk unleashing Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump’s top trade advisor.
Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, began chasing Navarro over the weekend, posting to X that he referred to Navarro’s degree, saying, “A doctoral degree from Harvard econ is a bad thing, not a good thing.” Anything that was subtly left at the beginning of this week has disappeared.
On Tuesday, Musk wrote “Navarro is really stupid,” adding that Navarro’s comments were “clearly wrong” in response to trade authorizers saying that Tesla is more of a “car assembler” than an automaker. Musk was called Navarro, and later called him “more ridiculous than a brick bag” before he remembered the irony of the bricks. Musk also called Navarro “dangerously stupid.”
Musk’s attack on Navarro represents the most common spat among Trump’s inner circle members since the president took office in January, Trump announced Wednesday in more than 180 countries, indicating that the territory has not received universal recognition in the administration.
When asked about the feud at Tuesday’s briefing, White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt said, “Look, these are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and tariffs.”
“Boys will be boys. We will continue to sparr their public,” she said.
Musk’s younger brother Kim Baru — a restaurant owner, entrepreneur and Tesla board member — took part in the action. Kimbal Musk criticized the tariffs on Monday, calling them “a permanent tax on American consumers.” He posted on X on Tuesday, saying that the Chinese and US standoffs are “not a game that C-Minus students like Peter Navarro should play.”
For Tesla CEOs, calling a name appears to be linked to business conditions.
Tesla stocks have fallen 22% in the past four trading sessions and 45% annually. Tesla has lost more than $585 billion in value since the calendar turned, worth tens of millions of dollars to Musk’s paper loss, CEO of SpaceX and owner of Xai and social network X.
Even before Trump detailed his widespread tariff plans, he had already placed a 25% tariff on vehicles that had not been assembled in the US.
However, the company’s production costs are poised to increase due to tariffs on materials and parts from foreign suppliers. Canada and Mexico are the leading sources of US steel imports, Canada is the largest supplier of aluminum in the country, and China and Mexico live with major suppliers of printed circuit boards to the automotive industry.
“Both Europe and the US should ideally move zero tax zones to effectively create free trade zones between Europe and North America into zero charge situations,” Musk said at an event on Saturday hosted by right-wing Deputy Italian Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
The view on trade relations with Europe holds a vested interest in the region in stark contrast to the policies implemented by Trump. Tesla has a large automotive factory outside of Berlin, and the European Commission has previously changed to SpaceX for launch.
Even before the tariffs, Tesla’s business was shaking. On Wednesday, the company reported a 13% decline in delivery in the quarter year-on-year, with analyst estimates missing. The report landed two days after Tesla’s stock price concluded its worst quarter since 2022.
Musk, who spent about $290 million to get Trump back to the White House, is now heading Trump’s so-called government efficiency department. In the first quarter, Tesla was hit by a wave of protests, boycotts and criminal activity targeting vehicles and facilities in response to Musk’s political rhetoric and his work at the White House.
Fix: Previous versions of this story had erroneous numbers for Musk’s contribution to the Trump campaign.
Watch: Brad Gerstner explains his Tesla position
